Wilkens Mathieu always knew the day would come when he would share a ring with Shakeel Phinn.

The two had never sparred any rounds, nor even exchanged words, prior to the announcement of their 10-round fight, which will take place on October 30 at Casino de Montreal in Montreal, Canada. The 20-year-old Mathieu recalls watching Phinn’s fights on the local circuit when he was 12 or 13 years old, and how his older brother, the since-retired Lexson Mathieu, was once scheduled to fight him. 

Phinn, 27-3-2 (17 KOs), is a durable gatekeeper who has never been stopped. He held Mathieu’s Eye of the Tiger Management stablemate Erik Bazinyan to a draw two fights ago in May of 2024. It would seem like a significant step-up for an upstart making his first appearance in a 10-round fight. Mathieu welcomes the challenge in front of him.

“I feel like I beat Shakeel Phinn right now, so why wait? That's my mentality,” said Mathieu, 14-0 (10 KOs). “I have the experience and I know I have the talent to beat him. I didn't want to just waste time just to wait. I'm gonna fight him, and I’m gonna beat him.”

Mathieu, a Quebec City-born fighter, has proven to be wise beyond his years despite having turned pro just two years ago. As Mathieu approached the biggest test of his young career, he understood changes had to be made to ensure that he was meeting his targets in training. That’s why he made the decision to move from his home in Brossard, where distractions are aplenty, and relocated to an Airbnb across the St. Lawrence River, just three minutes away from Pound 4 Pound Gym, where top fighters like Artur Beterbiev prepare for their fights.

“Every time I wanted to go to the gym, it was taking me an hour to go to the gym with the traffic, and coming back to the gym was an hour. It was just mentally draining,” said Mathieu, whose lone leisure activity during camp has been weekend fishing outings.

“Mentally I feel better, I feel closer to the gym. I feel more focused. I'm not an hour away, and I don't have distractions. I don't have good restaurants around me, I don't have beautiful girls around me. I'm just in the Airbnb and go to the gym. My life is pretty simple, and I think the key to having a great training camp is to keep it simple. I don't have people try to drain your energy.”

Mathieu hasn’t spent his entire training camp at his Airbnb, though. He and his trainer, Giuseppe Moffa, plus other boxers from the gym, have made two trips down to Philadelphia to spar at Philly's Next Champ, the gym where Jaron “Boots” Ennis trains. Mathieu has gotten in some rounds with the local boxers – including heavyweight Bryant Jennings. 

Mathieu says working out alongside fighters like Ennis and WBC featherweight titleholder Stephen Fulton showed him just where his level is at.

“Just by seeing them is good. I see what type of work they are doing. I saw guys from my gym spar with Stephen Fulton, and they were doing good, and it just brings my confidence up that we're not far from them. We see them on TV and everything, but when we see them in the gym, we realize that we're not that far from them,” said Mathieu.

Part of what has enabled Mathieu to gain experience so quickly is how immersed he has been in the sport from his earliest memories. Mathieu didn’t have his first official amateur fight until he was 10, but he grew up around the sport. His older brother Lexson boxed while their father, Patrick Mathieu, was a former tae kwon do champion who also boxed as an amateur. From a young age, it was clear that this was what he was destined to do. 

“I always loved fighting, even when I was young, I was watching fighting videos on the internet. I was watching Kimbo Slice fighting on the street. I was watching Bloodsport. I was watching every fighting movie, not even boxing, just fighting,” remembers Mathieu.

“It was always clear that I wanted to fight. I wanted to go out on the streets and beat up people. So it wasn’t just in my blood, it was me.”

Though Mathieu credits amateur boxing with enabling him to hone his craft, it didn’t suffice for him as an outlet for his love for fighting.

“I didn't like the gloves, I didn't like the system, I didn't like the way you need to fight to win the fight. I didn't like the vibe. I didn't like anything about amateur boxing, honestly, but it built me as a fighter mentally built me as a fighter. I don't regret what I've done. I went to many countries, I fought in places that I was not comfortable. And it built me as a man and as a fighter,” said Mathieu.

Mathieu fought internationally in the amateurs three times, competing in Hungary, Germany and Spain as part of Boxing Canada’s national team, but he says having to pay for his boxing trips abroad – despite being Canada’s national champion –  made him rethink the viability of being a top international amateur. He estimates that he had to spend approximately $6,000 USD to finance those trips.

“I paid it from my own pocket, everything, like the hotel, everything was from my own pocket. So in the long term, it doesn't make sense,” said Mathieu.

Mathieu’s upcoming fight will be the co-featured bout underneath the WBA junior middleweight title fight between champion Mary Spencer, a Montreal resident, and former champion Mikaela Mayer. 

As Mathieu approaches contender status, he understands the impact that he could have on the local scene. Quebecois fans have been open-minded about adopting talented transplants to the region like France’s Christian Mbilli, Cuba’s Osleys Iglesias and Colombia's Jhon Orobio. Mathieu is perhaps the most acclaimed prospect who is native to Quebec. He feels that his success could play a significant role in restoring the glory days of Quebec boxing, when Lucian Bute, Jean Pascal and Adonis Stevenson were selling out major arenas around the province a decade ago.

“It would be good because it's been a long time that we didn't have a guy purely from Quebec that fought on the world level. The last one was David Lemieux,” said Mathieu.

“Now we have Christian Mbilli, but he's from France. I'm talking about someone that is born in Quebec and is going to be a superstar born in Quebec. It's been a while that we didn't have this, and I think Quebec needs this. I think the fans need this, to have someone to relate to.”

While Mathieu is already ahead of the curve in regards to his development, he feels even bigger plateaus are just ahead in the near future.

“I always set goals in life. So far I always succeed in my goals. The first two years of my career I wanted to be active, fight as much as possible, get experience. That's what I did. And I said, in the third year, I want to fight for a title, and that's what I'm going to do,” said Mathieu.

“Two years from now, I'm going to fight for a world championship. [Undisputed super middleweight champion Terence] Crawford took all the belts, but he's gonna probably vacate them, and all the belts are gonna be vacant. I think I'm gonna fight for a title within two years, honestly.”