The saying goes that a fighter learns more in defeat than in victory and hard-hitting middleweight Steven Butler hopes to rebound from a loss this Friday, when he squares off against Jose de Jesus Macias.

The 10-round bout will take place at the Holiday Inn in Cuernavaca, Mexico and will stream live on punchinggrace.com (7:30 p.m. ET/ 4:30 p.m. PT).

Butler (28-2-1, 24 knockouts), who resides in Montreal, has not fought since December 2019, when he was stopped in five rounds by No. 5 rated middleweight Ryoto Murata. The setback snapped a string of 10 consecutive knockout wins that Butler accrued following his first defeat, to Brandon Cook, in January 2017. Notable wins have come against gatekeeper Carson Jones and fringe contender Vitalii Kopylenko.

The 25-year-old, who is co-promoted by Eye of the Tiger and Golden Boy Promotions, is eager to re-enter the rankings and challenge one of the world titleholders at 160 pounds. Robert Diaz, matchmaker for Golden Boy, believes Butler is a legit threat to any active middleweight.

“Butler is ready to start the road back to a world title,” Diaz told The Ring on Thursday. “He has learned a lot from his fight with Murata and is eager to get back in the ring and fight.”

Macias (29-10-3, 13 KOs), who resides in El Salto, Mexico, lost by unanimous decision to fringe junior middleweight Kernan Lejarraga on February 29. The 29-year-old was unbeaten in his previous five fights after losing back-to-back decisions to Mikael Zewski and Souleymane Cissokho in 2018.

In the co-feature, hard-hitting junior middleweight prospect Sadriddin Akhmedov (11-0, 10 KOs), who is originally from Kazakhstan and now resides in Montreal, will face Stephen Danyo (17-3-3, 6 KOs) of The Netherlands in a 10-round bout.

Lightweight Leila Beaudoin (3-0, 1 KO) of the Montreal suburb of Levis will square off against Mexico’s Maria Guadalupe Esquivel (4-16-1) in a six-round bout.

Francisco A. Salazar can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing

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