By Ryan Burton

Saturday night will be Glen "Jersey Boy" Tapia's first fight since his May 8th knockout loss to Michel Soro.  Tapia's (23-2) opponent will be former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (34-3) and the fight will be part of the Canelo Alvarez-Amir Khan pay-per-view undercard.  The fight card with 9 total matches will take place at the T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas strip.

The 26-year-old Tapia will be making the move up to the middleweight division.  Tapia has struggled the past few years to get down to the super welterweight limit and said that not having to drop those extra 6 pounds has made a big difference in his training camp.

"I believe that now I will be able to do what I do in the gym - in the ring now, in the actual fight. I think that all these other guys that have seen my greatness, guys I've sparred like Pacquiao and Cotto, they know how I fight and they know my abilities and I feel like I was losing it by going down to 154," Tapia told BoxingScene.com on Friday.

"Now at 160 I am feeling so healthy. I am making the weight easier. I am eating, my stomach isn't empty and I am not grumpy.  I am happy and I am training really hard. I feel so good.  Everything is perfect now."

Tapia has been stopped twice in career and will be facing a heavy hitter in Lemieux but the New Jersey native is very confident that he will be a lot stronger this time around at the higher weight.

He knows that many fans by nature are skeptical but he plans on proving them wrong Saturday evening.

"I feel so much better. Like this last week I was training hard and sparring and usually going down to 154 you feel it but this time no. I am so close to the weight and I feel so strong now and this is a week before the fight.  I know I am going to be strong in the fight.  I feel the difference and I know I am going to feel the same way I feel in the gym - in that ring and you will see next week," said Tapia.

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