Uisma Lima doesn’t regret the decision that led to his lone loss two years ago.

The Angolan-born junior middleweight was completely unknown when his team was offered a fight against Irish middleweight Aaron McKenna on one week’s notice in June 2023. Lima likes to stay in the gym, which helped him make weight for a 160-pound fight on such short notice.

He wasn’t in fighting shape, though, and didn’t spar nearly as much as when he prepares properly. Lima (14-1, 10 KOs), who will fight Jaron “Boots” Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs, 1 NC) on Saturday night in Philadelphia, still took that bout because he needed a chance to change the course of his career.

“I only sparred two or three days after his people called me,” Lima told The Ring. “I accepted. Why not? It was an opportunity.”

Lima lost the 10-round bout by unanimous decision at York Hall in London. McKenna (20-0, 10 KOs), ranked No. 7 in The Ring’s middleweight top 10, won comfortably on the cards of judges Fabian Guggenheim (98-92), Victor Loughlin (98-93) and Eddie Pappoe (100-91).

“I knew I need to accept some challenge to get more visibility,” Lima said. “And the McKenna fight, I lost, but people saw in one week what I can do. If I had more time, I would do a good strategy, good game plan, and beat McKenna. But this fight gave me visibility, because people know he’s not a journeyman. This guy comes to fight, and I showed this to people.”

Ennis is a 30-1 favorite to beat Lima in part because Lima lost a one-sided decision to McKenna.

Lima thinks their fight was closer than the judges scored it. He also considers himself a junior middleweight, not a middleweight.

The 32-year-old Lima has won four consecutive fights since McKenna beat him, three at junior middleweight and one at middleweight. The huge underdog views his experience at higher weights as an advantage over Ennis, who will make his debut at the junior middleweight maximum of 154 pounds.

Ennis easily defeated former WBA welterweight champ Eimantas Stanionis (16-1, 9 KOs, 1 NC) in his last bout, but he realized that depleting himself physically to get down to 147 pounds wasn’t worthwhile anymore. The Philadelphia native announced in June that he would relinquish his Ring, IBF and WBA welterweight crowns to compete at junior middleweight.

“Boots is in my division now,” Lima said. “I need to show I can beat him.”

DAZN will stream Ennis versus Lima, a fight for the WBA interim super welterweight title, as a 12-round main event from Xfinity Mobile Arena, the home venue of the NBA’s Sixers and NHL’s Flyers. Undercard coverage is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT).