Maliek Montgomery is familiar with being the underdog.
On Thursday, Montgomery faces Puerto Rican Joshua Pagan in a 10-round lightweight bout as the main event at Coliseo Pedrin Zorrilla in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The bout will be streamed on DAZN.
Montgomery, 20-1 (18 KOs), is not just fighting in Pagan’s home country, but is also coming off his first career loss in March. Montgomery, 30, knows what it feels like to be doubted. He has experienced doubt since his days as an amateur in the USA Boxing program.
“In a sense, I kind of feel better,” Montgomery told BoxingScene. “In the amateurs, I was never that designated guy.
“I have always had to fight an uphill battle. With me being in the position I am in, going into the guys’ hometown in a sense, I feel like this is my element.”
The fight reminds Montgomery of a national tournament in 2012 which took place in Toledo, Ohio. He had won the national Junior Olympics at 125lbs and moved up to 132lbs. He wasn’t on the radar at all.
“I fought three or four of the top guys, one of them was Albert Bell, one of them was Kenneth Sims,” Montgomery, of Macon, Georgia, said. “I beat all of them except Kenneth in the finals…up until that tournament I wasn’t expected to perform versus these guys.”
Twenty-five-year-old Pagan, 13-0 (4 KOs), is a blue-chip prospect signed by Salita Promotions. He turned professional after winning the 2021 National Championship, defeating Keon Davis. Hailing from Grand Rapids, Michigan, he has family from Puerto Rico and is of Puerto Rican descent. This will be Pagan’s second fight on the island.
“For me, it comes down to what version of myself shows up,” Montgomery said. “If it is the usual me, I think this is a one-sided beatdown.”
Yet, in March against Jermey Hill, that version didn’t show up.
“It was partially the weight,” Montgomery said. “There was a lot, pre-fight, that led up to it. Then it all spilled out when we got to the ring and I wasn’t able to put on a performance that I am used to.”
Montgomery is now fighting at lightweight as opposed to junior lightweight, where he had missed weight for two consecutive bouts. He has also brought on board a nutritionist. When asked if he would enter the ring with the same mentality he took to the 2012 national championship in Toledo, Ohio, Montgomery didn’t skip a beat.
“Yes, sir,” he said. “Absolutely.”
