The urgency of Alberto Puello looking to legitimize his title reign and Subriel Matias looking to become a two-time champion could set the stage for the best fight of the night.

Puello (24-0, 10 KOs) makes the second defense of his WBC junior welterweight title when he faces Matias on Saturday on “Ring III” at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York. Puello, a slick southpaw from the Dominican Republic, enters on the heels of winning back-to-back split decisions, the last of which came against Sandor Martin on March 1. On that same night, Matias (22-2, 22 KOs) stopped Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela in the eighth round in his home island of Puerto Rico.

It’s a match of contrasting styles. Here are the keys to victory for both heading into Saturday night.

When Matias’ feet are set and he’s moving forward, his constant volume and power-punching are a nightmare.

It’s a completely different fight if his feet aren’t set and he’s forced to constantly be on the move.

Movement is a key part of Puello’s game, and that’ll have to be the case again. He’ll have to constantly give angles and force Matias to follow him if he’s going to limit his attack and his patented volume.

If Puello, 30, can keep Matias turning, he can walk him into big shots that can swing the fight in his favor early and force the former champion to have to play catch-up.

It’s all but a given that Matias is going to get off to a super slow start.

While Puello needs to assert himself early, he can’t go overboard when it comes to taking the opening rounds. He has to be content to do enough to bank the early rounds.

Eventually, the barrage is going to come from Matias, and if Puello comes out of the gates too hot, he may not have enough gas in the tank to hold him off. Puello has to be able to make a late surge of his own if the fight is close, and pacing himself in the early rounds will be vital.

Puello doesn’t need to look far to find a blueprint on how to outbox Matias.

Liam Paro, who is a southpaw like Puello, was constantly on the move, but also held his ground and pushed back Matias from time to time to stop his forward momentum. Paro went on to defeat Matias by a clear unanimous decision on June 15, 2024, to take his IBF title.

Puello would be remiss not to implement a similar game plan. If he can time when to push back Matias and do it a couple of times per round, it’ll go a long way toward slowing down the Puerto Rican and helping Puello stay in control.

Matias’ chances of becoming a two-time champion will largely depend on his footwork and ability to get into position to let his hands go.

If Matias, 33, is constantly following around Puello, he won’t be able to use his pressure and volume punching. Even if he does throw while he’s on the move, his punches likely won't have the effect he needs to try and slow down Puello.

Matias has to cut off Puello where he’s going. If he can do that and constantly force Puello to fight him off, that’ll greatly improve Matias’ chances of taking over in the second half of the fight.

For those who believed Martín did enough to dethrone Puello, it was largely because of the work he did to the body. Of Martin’s 162 punches landed, 86 were to the body.

One would imagine that Puello will be much more concerned about Matias' body attack. If he can find success going downstairs, that’ll go a long way toward slowing down Puello. And with Matias’ ability to push an otherworldly pace as the fight progresses, the body work will be vital toward setting him up to become a world champion again.

Matias got off to an unusually slow start against Paro, and by the time he went to put his foot on the gas he had no margin for error.

Matias can’t afford to make the same mistake against Puello. Waiting too long would likely mean the same result.