Omari Jones, a 2024 U.S. Olympic welterweight bronze medalist, will make his pro debut on Saturday in what will also be a sort of homecoming.

Jones will face Alessio Mastronunzio in a six-round bout at the Caribe Royale Orlando in Orlando, Florida. The bout signals Jones’ debut with Matchroom Boxing and his first fight as a professional, all of which will happen in front of his hometown fans.

Jones, 22, made the voyage to Paris 2024 and was the only member of Team USA Boxing to capture a medal.

“I just feel like I'm a kid from Orlando that came from humble beginnings, with my parents making sacrifices,” Jones said. “The area that I did karate and boxing in, it wasn't the best area, but I made sure I came out of it. It was about going to school and the gym, and my parents did a great job of keeping me focused.”

That focus paid off with an Olympic medal – even if it wasn’t quite the one he had been aiming for. The decision to turn pro wasn’t easy: Jones debated whether to stay an amateur and attempt to compete at the 2028 Olympic Games. But with all the uncertainty around whether boxing would even continue to be included in the Olympics, Jones ultimately decided to turn pro.

“If I would have stepped in with a gold medal, it would have been like, ‘I’m already the best’ and this and that,” Jones told BoxingScene. “As far as the pressure on me to perform, I don't feel any pressure. It's just something I've been doing since I was young, and nothing swayed me away from performing. You can go back to my national days, my international days, the Olympic stage. It's like I continuously was one of USA Boxing’s consistent members, and I'm going to continue to put on [similar] performances in the professional ranks.”

Jones got his boxing start at four years old. His parents enrolled him in karate classes with his brothers. At the dojo, he found his talent for boxing.

“So, the after-school program would come pick me up from school, I would go to karate class, do karate from four [o’clock] to five, change into boxing at 6 p.m. at my same dojo,” Jones said. “So I just saw all of my friends changing to boxing at karate, and then one day, I just joined in, and I had my first sparring, and I was pretty much beating on all the guys that was more experienced than me. So my coach was like, ‘Man, we gonna name you “The Banger.”’”

The nickname stuck. Now facing Mastronunzio, a 30-year-old from Italy, Jones will have to channel “The Banger” and his younger days of handling more mature opponents. Mastronunzio, 14-5 (4 KOs), has 19 professional fights and has gone 113 rounds compared to Jones’ zero professional rounds.

Jones, who takes pride in his Orlando roots, and who referenced a speech he had given in the past to young children as motivation, wants to make an emphatic debut that sets the stage for big future fights.

“Like I always tell the kids in Orlando, I come from the same seats and same places as y’all,” Jones said. “You can definitely do it, too.”

Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.