NEWARK, New Jersey — Vito Mielnicki Jr. hurt Connor Coyle with his right hand early in the second round of their fight Feb. 14 in The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

That should’ve been the moment Mielnicki demonstrated patience and methodically picked apart the undefeated middleweight contender. It instead made Mielnicki abandon his game plan and later brawl with Coyle, who eventually made their entertaining 10-round contest competitive enough for it to result in a majority draw.

Mielnicki (20-1-1, 12 KOs) believes he deserved a victory over Northern Ireland’s Coyle (21-0-1, 9 KOs) four months ago. The Roseland, New Jersey, native also knows that his performances must start reflecting how he prepares for fights at veteran trainer Ronnie Shields’ gym in Stafford, Texas.

Mielnicki, 23, needs that process to begin Saturday night, when he opposes Poland’s Kamil Gardzielik (19-0, 4 KOs) in a 10-round main event ESPN+ will stream from Prudential Center in Newark.

“I feel like this is two fights in row now for me where I didn’t fight up to my standards,” Mielnicki told The Ring. “Most importantly, I just wanna put on a great performance. With the work I put in, I deserve that. With all the time and sacrifices I’m making, it’s gotta pay off on fight night now. That’s mostly what I’m looking forward to doing and what my goal is on Saturday night.”

Mielnicki made matters more difficult for himself than necessary in his bout before his draw with Coyle as well. He defeated Italy’s Khalil El Harraz (16-6-1, 6 KOs) easily on two scorecards (100-90, 98-92), but he settled for winning a majority decision because judge Tony Paolillo scored it a draw (95-95).

Coyle-Mielnicki was close on all three cards. Tom Carusone scored Mielnicki a 96-94 winner, yet Ken Ezzo and Kevin Morgan had it 95-95 apiece.

Coyle entered the ring ranked third by the WBA in the middleweight division, thus their draw prevented Mielnicki from moving near contention for a shot at WBA 160-pound champ Erislandy Lara (31-3-3, 19 KOs).

“I felt as though I did win the fight 7-3, possibly 6-4,” Mielnicki said. “But this is boxing, three judges sitting with different perspectives of a fight. It was an exciting fight. That was the upside, that I feel it was an exciting fight. The downside was it wasn’t the fight I feel I should’ve fought. I could’ve made the fight way easier. I feel as though I probably could’ve stopped him in the fourth or fifth round.

“I think there was a point in the fight, at the beginning, when I came back to the corner and Ronnie actually told me, ‘Yeah, we can get this guy out of there.’ Then I think I just fell into the excitement of the fight, rather than fighting like a mature fighter and strategically breaking this guy down and getting him out of there. So, I wasn’t happy with my performance. There were defensive flaws in my game that showed. Just everything, in all aspects of my game I could’ve been better for sure.”

Coverage of the Mielnicki-Gardzielik undercard is scheduled to begin on ESPN+ at 5:15 p.m. ET on Saturday. Lorenzo Simpson (15-2, 9 KOs), a middleweight from Baltimore, Maryland, and New York’s Jahi Tucker (14-1-1, 6 KOs) are set to square off in the 10-round co-feature.