Growing up in Greece, Andreas Katzourakis was not born into a particularly vibrant boxing scene. To put it into perspective, last year there were just four professional boxing events staged in the country, and the last one featured nine fighters making their professional debuts. With a lack of infrastructure and talent depth, Katzourakis transitioned from high-level kickboxing and point fighting to boxing at 15, and win four national Greek amateur titles without much resistance.

In his first international tournament representing his country, he recalls facing the reigning Ukrainian junior amateur champion, and taking a beating like he never had before. Rather than being deterred, he realized that if he wanted his boxing dreams to have a chance to blossom, those seeds would have to be sown elsewhere, preferably in the United States.

Katzourakis had big dreams, but he was willing to admit that perhaps he was being naïve.

“From the get-go, in my mind, the goal was to become world champion,” Katzourakis told The Ring. “I’m moving to the United States. But even in the first year, if I don’t see through sparring, through fights, through everything else that I belong on this level, I’m packing my bags. I’m going back home, getting a normal job, being with my family, with my friends and my girlfriend because in my mind there is no reason to make all these sacrifices and go through this hardship and everything else not to get to the world title."

Katzourakis understood that his starting block in the race towards a world title was farther behind, but he realized that he had a particular superpower, one that has been a throughline in every element of his career: The ability to work hard and continue moving forward. His competition might be ahead of him on the track, but as the laps click away, eventually he’ll reel them all in.

It's the identity he’s adopted in the ring, the CompuBox-busting volume puncher and pressure fighter who at times can lose early rounds, but rarely loses the later ones. That approach led him through the OTX 154-pound tournament, a round-robin of then-fringe contenders at super welterweight put on by Katzourakis’ promoter, Overtime Boxing, and aired on DAZN in 2024.

Katzourakis’ road was illustrative of his career path overall: Three wins, none unanimous. A thrilling majority decision over Kudratillo Abdukakhorov, a split decision over the pesky Robert Terry and a barnburner of a win over longtime contender Brandon Adams in the tournament final in which he edged another split decision. Anecdotally, the Abdukakhorov and Adams bouts could be considered “longlisted” amongst the better fights of last year.

In each instance, Katzourakis was able to muster just a little bit more than his opponent, harnessing his core belief that grounded him upon his move to the United States: Someone has to prove to me that I don’t belong.

“I know what work I'm putting in and I'm seeing everybody else and I'm noticing. And I know that no one is working as hard as I am. I know that for a fact. And I know that there are people in my division that are more talented than I am or may have better boxing skills or something else. But I'll tell you for a fact, I'm not going to lose to them,” he said.

Katzourakis (15-0, 10 KOs) hasn't lost yet. His status will grow a tiny bit more this week, as he headlines OTX 13 in his adopted hometown of Houston, Texas, against fellow transplant in Puerto Rican Roberto Cruz.

Katzourakis enjoys a Top-15 ranking from two of the four major sanctioning bodies, his placement from the WBC owed to his success in the OTX tournament. Although he sits in the latter half of both sets of rankings, Katzourakis’ management believes he’s ready and capable of hanging with the big names at 154.

"They were offering two million dollars for Vergil [Ortiz] opponents. Yes, we would take that," said David McWater of Split-T Management. "Him and I have discussed it, and it took us about four seconds to agree that, yeah, we would take that. He's in that situation where if he gets in there with the really good fighters, even if he loses, he sort of wins because he's going to look great. Nobody's stopping him. The worst thing is he loses a split decision, but now he's in their world, and it's a good world to be in over there."

Katzourakis is journeying towards the land of the giants with a man who has guided some of the sport’s true titans in Ronnie Shields. In the early stages of his career, while working with a man whom he described as “a Greek guy in Los Angeles who wasn’t even a boxer,” he admits to losing confidence for a period of time. What he discovered is that he wasn’t being pushed intellectually. He always had the capacity to push himself to great lengths, but until he made the switch to Abel Sanchez, he didn’t find that level of stimulation and guidance. After an amicable split with Sanchez, he found himself in Houston with Shields, amidst a vibrant Greek community.

“I actually thought how amazingly physically talented he was when I first saw him, like his first, second, third fight, one of the early fights. He beat Walter Wright who was a really good opponent back then; it's a guy normally you'd fight in like your 12th [or] 13th fight. He'd be like a co-feature on ShoBox type guy, and he beat him,” said McWater. “He had no real amateur experience. He did kickboxing. When we signed him, he was like 5-0 and one of the things that did impress me was what a natural athlete he was.

"Now what impresses me is how smart the kid is. He's brilliant. I think him and Ronnie are a great pair. Ronnie will have fairly elaborate fight plans for him because he knows this kid can carry it off. He wouldn't even bother to make a fight plan like that for some guys because he knows they don't have that kind of discipline and ability to learn and ability to follow. He understands all of that stuff.”

In terms of his opponent this week, Cruz, Katzourakis doesn’t feel as though he’ll have to concoct a scheme too elaborate to pick up the victory today. There’s no shortage of confidence in him anymore — no reason for him to believe he doesn’t belong.

"I feel like he's a pretty straightforward opponent. He's a strong athletic guy that he's gonna be, he doesn't have that much footwork to worry about. He's not experienced," he said. "He doesn't have the experience nor the skill to match what I bring to the table."