When a fighter suffers a loss on the big stage, there is the inevitable autopsy from the whole of the boxing community. When a fighter who had a reputation as being an avoided entity, the tone of the criticism tends to be a little more aggrieved, as if the fighter had in some way fooled the audience.

Such was the case when Subriel Matias lost his IBF junior welterweight title to Liam Paro in 2024. The fight was considered one of the biggest upsets of the year, and might have taken home the Ring Magazine award for it had Bruno Sarace not stunned Jaime Munguia in the closing weeks of the year. Matias came into the bout heralded as one of the most feared fighters in the sport, with fans concocting theories about which fighters were actively avoiding him and which ones should be. Matias had all the elements to fit the archetype of the Boxing Bogeyman: A high knockout ratio (100% qualifies as high), a high punch output (one of the highest in the sport according to CompuBox), and a little under the radar.

Following the loss in which Matias was out landed in power shots overall and also outworked on a per-round basis, new theories about how he was overhyped and in which ways were formed. Just as easily as the industry can make a fighter a Bogeyman, it can make them a Hype Job, and the difference can often be just one punch—or in Matias’ case, a handful of rounds.

The aftermath fed into the post-fight onslaught and rewriting of Matias’ narrative. He was out of his promotional contract with Matchroom, and he split with his longtime trainer Panda Najar. Suddenly, the tale of the Puerto Rican Bogeyman was one we all fell for, but shouldn’t have.

Amidst the hysteria about what Matias was or wasn’t, what he should or shouldn’t have done, the fighter himself has a rather fundamental diagnosis of what went wrong on that night, and what he needs to return to doing.

"I should have thrown more punches, you know, if you don't throw punches, you're not going to win a fight. If you don't throw punches, you can't get a paycheck,” Matias told The Ring. “Time will tell. I respect what the fans and the press thought about me, that’s great. But I believe in myself, and I will be champion again, that’s for sure.”

The pendulum of momentum already seems to be swinging back the other way for Matias.

Matias returned to the ring in November with a second round TKO win over Roberto Ramirez in which he was momentarily buzzed in the opening round before blasting through Ramirez in the second round. It was a condensed version of a quintessential Matias performance—plow forward, get hit in the process, but ultimately be too much for his opponent.

One fight later, and Matias is back at the doorstep, haunting the proverbial 140-pound neighborhood once again. The 32-year old makes his debut with his new promoter, Salita Promotions, in an IBF 140-pound title eliminator against Gabriel Gollaz in the main event of a Big Time Boxing event aired on DAZN. The winner would become the mandatory challenger for Richardson Hitchins, who fittingly defeated Paro for the title Matias once held in Puerto Rico late last year.

Matias will not only be fighting in front of a broader audience once again on DAZN (his most recent bout was an independently distributed pay-per-view produced by his longtime Puerto Rican promoter Fresh Productions), but in front of an audience who never once wavered in their belief in him. The bout will take place at the Coliseo Tomas Dones in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, Matias’ birthplace and hometown.

It's a moment that’s brought about some nostalgic feelings for the normally stoic, and by his own definition, “cold” fighter.

“Well, look, I grew up watching McJoe and McWilliams (Arroyo), but my favorite boxer was Tito Trinidad. And for me, the biggest motivation, besides fighting in Fajardo, is fighting in this eliminator because, you know, I lost the world title and I want to regain it again,” said Matias. “Obviously, this is a special moment for me to be able to fight in Fajardo, and there'll be a lot of people who get to see me fight live, maybe for the first time.”

As those who have followed Matias’ life and career know, setbacks and even outright pitfalls are something he’s accustomed to overcoming. Matias has described himself as “a dead man that God has brought back to life,” growing up with a single mother and his grandmother in the Fajardo fishing community. In August of 2012, he was shot twice, and two months after that, was sentenced to 19 years in prison.

It's to those very streets that he returns, with his name on the marquee of the city’s biggest venue, two steps away from becoming world champion a second time. No matter what the court reports or the scouting reports ever said, Matias’ image of himself as the impervious monster capable of beating any 140-pounder alive has never wavered.

“Most of my family and friends have followed my career wherever I have fought and watched. However, this particular fight is extraordinary because I can perform it in front of my community, including everyone who has watched me grow up. These are the same people who see me hit some bumps in the road, so having this fight here is the cherry on top,” said Matias at the most recent press conference. “As long as I keep winning, those big fights will come to me. The fans will continue to call for those big fights.”