Subriel Matias remained focused on his career-altering task at hand the past few months.

If the Puerto Rican power puncher wins against Argentina’s Jeremias Ponce on Saturday night, it’ll be the best moment of Matias’ boxing career. Matias, 30, and Ponce, 26, will fight for the vacant IBF junior welterweight title in the main event of a “Showtime Championship Boxing” tripleheader from The Armory in Minneapolis.

A win would move Matias into position for title unification fights and bigger paydays.

As much as Matias hopes to celebrate Saturday night, the worst moment of his boxing life is embedded in the back of his mind. The regret from Maxim Dadashev’s death “never leaves” the compassionate Matias, who discussed that tragedy during a recent interview with BoxingScene.com.

Dadashev died July 23, 2019, from brain trauma sustained during his technical-knockout loss to Matias four days earlier at MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

“It made me think it could happen to me,” Matias said, according to his translator. “It’s very present in my mind that anything could happen at any time. The sorrow never leaves. It’s sobering to see something like that, that you never want to see happen to people.”

Dadashev suffered a subdural hematoma against Matias, who was winning their one-sided bout big on the scorecards when Dadashev’s trainer, Buddy McGirt, stopped it after the 11th round. He underwent emergency surgery and was placed in a medically induced coma before Dadashev succumbed to his injuries.

Russia’s Dadashev was 28. He is survived by his wife and a young son.

“I prefer to remember him as a warrior that was beloved by his family,” Matias said. “And more than anything, I like to think that he’s resting in peace and that God had a plan for him. You can’t question God’s plan. And hopefully he is in a better place now.”

Matias remembered the process of returning to training and a fight as “something that hurt,” but he declined to elaborate on the emotional and mental hurdles he overcame following Dadashev’s death.

He is 4-1 since he defeated Dadashev, but Matias avenged the lone loss of his career during that stretch by stopping Petros Ananyan at the end of the ninth round of their rematch in January 2022. Matias will fight for the first time Saturday night since he defeated Armenia’s Ananyan 13 months ago at Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Handicappers have installed Matias (18-1, 18 KOs), who is ranked second among the IBF’s junior welterweight contenders, as a 4-1 favorite to beat the number one-ranked Ponce (30-0, 20 KOs). They’ll headline a three-bout broadcast set to start at 9 p.m. ET on Showtime.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.