Masayuki Ito will make his second junior lightweight world title defense on May 25, in Florida. He will take on the fighting pride of Coram, Long Island, Marine vet Jamel Herring, and that date stands out with great significance for Herring.

Ito, from Japan, will glove up against Herring at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, the venue where he downed Christopher Diaz to win the 130-pound belt last summer.

We checked in with Herring, age 33, who has seen his career get into rebirth mode after moving under the Top Rank umbrella, away from the PBC tent.

“I’m excited, for starters. You personally know the road I had to take in order to get here, but it’ll all go to waste if I don’t take advantage of the opportunity,” said Herring, who owns a 19-2 (10 KOs) mark. “Ito is a really good fighter, and I’m impressed of how far he has came with no amateur background but at the same time, his lack of amateur experience may play into my game. I don’t want to give away too much of the game plan, but I believe I’ll give him a lot of trouble simply based off the fact that I’m far from being the little guy, like his last two opponents.

“Respect to Diaz and his last opponent, but I won’t be bullied. In fact I believe I’ll be the bigger man overall. I have proven that I can box, and fight in the trenches if I have to, so I’ll be ready fight night. But again, I’m just excited and I look forward to the 25th of May. That is my daughter’s birthday; she passed away from SIDS. It’s Memorial Day weekend. This fight has so much on the line, but I want to thank Masayuki for the opportunity, and my team for getting it done.”

The fighter, who dropped down to 130 from 135 and has seen his game flourish with these mini-reboots, speaks of daughter Ariyahah. She died on July 27, 2009, and the fighting Marine doesn’t shy away from honoring her memory.

“At one point it used to sadden me a lot, but as time went on, I took her memory and used it as motivation by honoring her proudly. Hopefully I can give her a proper birthday gift, which would also be the signature win to my Cinderella story,” Herring said.

He lost bouts to Denis Shafikov and then Ladarius Miller, and knew change was needed. So he hooked on with the OG Bob Arum and has been impressed with the direction he’s received and the structured and focused nature of the company.

We chatted about his camp for Ito: “I’ll be spending my entire training in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which is currently where my stablemates Terence Crawford and Shakur Stevenson are at for the 4/20 card in New York. I’ll have Brian McIntyre, Esau Dieguez and Red Spikes in my corner as always. Jamie Belt will also be in camp to provide my strength and conditioning sessions, but as you can see, we plan on taking this fight seriously. I have to also mention that Bud is pretty much my fourth trainer as well, because he always shares his input and I greatly respect having someone like that in my corner.”

My three cents: It’s hard not to root for Herring, if you know anything about him. He approaches the game with immense pride and dignity and he treats media and fans and everyone, really, as they would want to be treated.