Rising lightweight Dzmitry Asanau will have his third fight under the Eye of The Tiger banner on Thursday.

Each fight has been a step up and this time he will face former European titleholder Francesco Patera in the main event at Montreal Casino, Montreal.

"It's a good opponent, experienced guy," Asanau (9-0, 4 knockouts) told The Ring. "We need this fight. He's a good fighter but we know our level and we need to show our skills.

"He can fight like a pressure fight, he can just box. We will see in the ring. We have our game plan, we know what to do if he brings pressure or runs away."

Asanau, who turns 29 next month, was a standout amateur, he had over 300 fights and won bronze at the 2015 World Championships and gold at the 2019 European games.

That experience has stood him in good stead and on paper, while Patera appears his toughest test to date, the Belarus-born fighter offered a different perspective.

"Sometimes you fight with opponent who is not as comfortable for you and you need to adapt, sometimes you fight with a very good guy but it's his style is comfortable for you," he said. "Boxing style makes fight. We will see. He's one of the best.

"I did a lot of sparring like Jack Catterall, Cameron Vuong, Jadier Herrera, all in Dubai earlier this year. Here I've sparred with Wyatt Sanford and Mathieu Germain. A lot of good, experienced fighters who are better than Patera, but it is fight, sparring is different. We will see. We know how to fight and know our skills. We are faster, younger, good movement, we have the skills to beat this guy."

In his last fight, Asanau stopped former world title challenger Matias Rueda (TKO 5). However, he had to emerge from apparently being buzzed by a big punch but down plays that.

"This punch was not a shock punch, I was not swinging, I'm just losing my balance," he said. "It was only one punch he hit me with in this fight. His only moment in the fight.

"This punch showed me this guy has experience, a good pro career and you need to be focused at all times. After this round, I came to my corner and my coach said, 'You have a 10-round fight, you need to be careful with this and stay focused and follow our game plan.' We continued with a couple of good rounds and stopped this guy."

His amateur pedigree allows for him to move quicker than most but he isn't getting ahead of himself and is taking each fight as it comes.

"I'm just focused on my future fight," he said. "If I get the opportunity to fight some big names, we will fight but it not only my decision, it's the decision of the whole team. It's very good Patera accepted this fight and gave me this opportunity him."

Camille Estephan of Eye of The Tiger feels this is the natural next step for what he believes is a rising force.

"I'm really, really impressed by him," said Estephan. "What we see from him in the gym is spectacular. He has the guy, Patera, to test him and show us what he's made of."

Patera (30-5, 11 KOs) has been a professional since 2012. The Belgium-born fighter worked his way up and took a couple of loses before winning and losing the European title to Edis Tatli (SD 12/ L UD 12) in Finland.

The 31-year-old southpaw regained the EBU belt when he upset streaking Lewis Ritson (UD 12). He notched three defenses before Covid bit and forced him to sit out 18-months. After returning with five wins, Patera was beaten by future WBO lightweight titlist Keyshawn Davis (UD 10). Since then, Patera has gone 2-1, losing to Gary Cully (UD 10).

Asanou-Patera, plus undercard bouts, will be broadcast on ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m. ET/ 3:30 p.m. PT