Curtis Stevens, seeking a lift after a long layoff and trying to distance himself from a reputation as a one-dimensional knockout artist, has made a change in his corner. After following the guidance of his uncle Andre Rozier for his entire career, Stevens is now being trained by John David Jackson.

Stevens, 31, will look to show off a more varied offensive arsenal when he faces undefeated Patrick Teixeira on HBO PPV on the May 7 undercard of Canelo Alvarez vs. Amir Khan at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While he’s not promising a kindler and gentler Curtis, he is vowing not to just go for the “kill,” describing a previous mindset.

“Not looking for the power so much,” Stevens said on a conference call on Tuesday. “We all know I have the equalizer. Back in the day, I used to just rely on one shot just to take you out. (I’m) just being more relaxed and not looking for the one shot. When it comes it comes. (I’m) just getting back to being more relaxed and having fun.”

Stevens (27-5, 20 knockouts) said he and Jackson, a former middleweight titleholder in the 1990s, started working together around around a month ago in Florida. “We always knew of each other,” said Stevens, who now lives in Florida. “I came down to see him one day. We worked together. We’ve been working the whole March, getting everything together and we make a good match-up. He’s been a fighter who fought back in the day. He sees things that other people can’t see. So he’s making me more relaxed instead of making me just go in there and kill.”

Stevens was last seen in the ring in October of 2014 when he lost a listless decision to Hassan N’Dam in an IBF eliminator. Stevens said that personal problems involving the mother of his son affected his focus in the ring in recent fights. Those issues have been resolved, he says, and he promised a more serious campaign on May 7.

“For the past few years I was going through some things family wise so my mind wasn’t really in the game,” Stevens said. “I always was physically ready coming to fight but mentally I wasn’t all the way there. So thanks to God everything has been hashed out and I’m back in the game mentally and physically. I’m going to be well prepared on May 7.”

Normally a volume trash talker, Stevens was respectful toward the mostly untested Brazilian Teixeira (26-0, 22 KOs) and was noticeably more subdued on Tuesday’s call. To show he has a different mindset, Stevens, who basically talked his way into a match-up with Gennady Golovkin in 2013, said he no longer goes by the nickname “Showtime,” which fed into his flashy, only-win-by-knockout persona. “I wasn’t going to talk about what I’m going to do in the fight on here,” he said. “I’m just going to fight.”