LOS ANGELES – Andre Rozier has seen a rejuvenated Sergiy Derevyanchenko in the gym recently.

From his trainer’s vantagepoint, Derevyanchenko needed a long break from boxing following his 12-round, unanimous-decision loss to Jermall Charlo in September 2020. His one-sided defeat to the unbeaten WBC middleweight champion marked a fourth straight difficult fight for the Ukrainian middleweight contender.

In his bout before he encountered Charlo, Derevyanchenko delivered a superb performance against Gennadiy Golovkin, with whom he produced a brutal slugfest that BoxingScene.com named its “Fight of the Year” for 2019. Derevyanchenko conquered contender Jack Culcay by unanimous-decision in a hard-fought 12-rounder that occurred between his split-decision defeat to Daniel Jacobs in October 2018 and his unanimous-decision loss to Golovkin in October 2019.

Though his loss to Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) was the most decisive defeat of Derevyanchenko’s seven-year pro career, Rozier believes that the 2008 Olympian has plenty of championship-caliber boxing left in his 36-year-old body. That’s what Derevyanchenko (13-3, 10 KOs) will attempt to prove Sunday night, when he’ll meet Dominican contender Carlos Adames (20-1, 16 KOs) in a 10-round middleweight match at Staples Center.

Derevyanchenko-Adames will be the second of three undercard bouts before Gervonta Davis defends his WBA world lightweight title against Mexico’s Isaac Cruz in the main event of Showtime’s four-fight pay-per-view broadcast (8 p.m. ET; 5 p.m. PT; $74.99).

“I can only speak about what he does when he’s training,” Rozier told BoxingScene.com. “And when he’s training, he looks fantastic. He’s doing a wonderful job with what he’s doing. I don’t think he’s quote, unquote done by a long shot. I think he just needed a bit of a rest because all of that activity came right behind each other. He has shown a propensity to be that special guy and a world champion. And we can only give him the chance to prove that and to succeed at that.”

Derevyanchenko and his handlers considered a move down from the middleweight limit of 160 pounds to the junior middleweight maximum of 154 following his loss to Charlo. Ultimately, though, they decided Derevyanchenko is better suited to thrive at middleweight because of his age and that he has fought at or near that weight since he made his pro debut in July 2014.

“Basically, that’s where he felt most comfortable,” Rozier said. “And although we had some issues and troubles with the Charlo fight, the truth of the matter is he has been competing at 160, on a high level, in bouts people might’ve considered him the winner of. So, just because you have this issue with this particular bout doesn’t mean, ‘OK, you’re going down.’ He feels comfortable at 160. He’s been very, very effective at 160. That’s where he wants to be.”

In Adames, Derevyanchenko will encounter a hard-hitting 154-pound championship challenger who will box at the middleweight limit for the first time. Caesars Sportsbook lists Derevyanchenko as a 4-1 favorite over Adames, yet Rozier anticipates a true threat in Derevyanchenko’s first fight in 14 months.

“He’s a strong young man,” Rozier said of Adames. “I’ve seen him in bouts. I seen him when he boxed against Patrick Day. I seen him when he fought Patrick Teixeira [Adames’ lone loss]. You know, he’s a good fighter. But you have to be better than good to beat ‘The Technician,’ and ‘The Technician’ is gonna show him that on Sunday.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.