Abdullah Mason almost immediately accepted Giovanni Cabrera as his next opponent after he stopped Manuel Jaimes in the fourth round February 14 in New York.

Undefeated lightweight contender William Zepeda beat Cabrera by third-round knockout in his most recent fight, July 6 at Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. Two fights earlier, however, Cabrera tested eventual WBA 140-pound champ Isaac Cruz, the hard-hitting Mexican who won a split decision over Cabrera in July 2023 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Once Mason demonstrated against Jaimes that he learned from getting dropped twice in his previous fight, the Cleveland native believed Cabrera was the type of opponent the 20-year-old southpaw needed to beat to ascend in the lightweight rankings.

Chicago’s Cabrera (22-2, 7 KOs) withdrew from the Mason matchup last month because he had surgery to correct an undisclosed eye injury. Mason (17-0, 15 KOs) will instead meet Mexico’s Carlos Ornelas in the first 10-rounder of Mason’s three-year pro career Saturday night in Las Vegas.

Mason-Ornelas is part of the Richard Torrez-Guido Vianello undercard. ESPN+ will stream the entire event from Palms Casino Resort’s Pearl Theater, starting at 5:30 p.m. ET (2:30 p.m. PT).

“I couldn’t wait to face Cabrera,” Mason told The Ring. “I felt like that was a worthy step-up opponent. He went the distance with Cruz. A lotta people were looking forward to that fight, knowing that it was a step up. You know, they were reaching out to me, saying, ‘Man, this gonna be a good one,’ just because of the awkward style he has.

“And that step up probably would’ve put me closer in line to the championship fight than this opponent would. But we still working and we getting closer and closer to those belts, because that’s ultimately where we wanna get. So, we just working.”

Ornelas (28-4, 15 KOs) has won three straight fights since countryman Rafael Espinoza (26-0, 22 KOs), who later won the WBO featherweight title, defeated him by unanimous decision in a 10-round bout that took place in January 2021 in Tijuana. Another Mexican veteran, Edwin Palomares (then 12-3-1), stopped Ornelas in the fifth round of his previous fight in June 2020 in Mexico City.

“Carlos Ornelas, he tries to be a good all-around fighter,” Mason said. “He tries to use his defense. He got his special punches that he likes to throw. He’s a southpaw, just like me. … He has a little bit of everything. He has 28 wins, four losses. This will be my first 10-rounder, so it’s still a step up, although not the same, exact step up we was looking for. We’re prepared to get him out of there or go the distance. He’s a good fighter all around. He likes to throw an overhand [left], too, so we’ll be watching out for that.”

Mason, who will turn 21 on Saturday, considered Cabrera more of a challenge than Ornelas.

The whopping 50-1 favorite realizes, of course, that Ornelas can change his life by upsetting him and will bring similar energy to the ring as Yohan Vasquez brought November 8. The Dominican Republic’s Vasquez (26-6, 21 KOs) dropped Mason twice in the first round that night at Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia, yet a resilient Mason recorded two knockdowns of his own and won by second-round knockout.

“[Ornelas] definitely has more surprising offense [than Cabrera],” Mason said. “Cabrera, he has an awkwardness to him, but Ornelas, he kinda surprises you with his shots. Like he’ll jump in with an attack and throw certain combinations that you gotta watch out for. You can’t really chill out.”