Having to briefly pause his forward momentum was not at all in the cards for Raymond Muratalla.

A potential breakthrough year was on the horizon for the unbeaten lightweight before an untimely injury forced him out of his last scheduled fight date. Muratalla (18-0, 15KOs) still has the same matchup in his sights—a ten-round bout versus unbeaten Mexican prospect Diego Torres. It just comes three months later and without the high profile that would have come with its previous placement.

“It sucked but I’m back now and feeling great,” Muratalla said of the unwelcomed downtime. “I had to turn my mindset on again. They gave me the new date and it was just time to get back in the gym and get to work.”

Muratalla-Torres will serve as the televised co-feature for an ESPN+ streamed event this Saturday from Tahoe Blue Event Center in Stateline, Nevada. Headlining the card, Efe Ajagba (18-1, 13KOs) and Joseph Goodall (10-1-1, 9KOs) meet in a scheduled tne-round heavyweight clash.

The event doesn’t exactly carry the same notoriety that came with Muratalla’s previously scheduled date. The 26-year old from Fontana, California was previously due to face Torres (18-0, 17KOs) in the August 12 ESPN-televised co-feature to the Emanuel Navarrete-Oscar Valdez WBO junior lightweight title fight in Glendale, Arizona. Muratalla was a late scratch after he was unable to overcome an injury suffered late in training camp.

It briefly stalled the momentum gained from his previous two knockout wins on the year.

Muratalla overcame an opening round knockdown to drop and stop Humberto Galindo in the ninth round of their entertaining March 25 clash in Fresno, California. Less than two months later, he racked up his most notable win to date on a high-profile event, a second-round knockout of former title challenger Jeremia Nakathila. The fight served as the May 20 ESPN Pay-Per-View opener for the Devin Haney Vasiliy Lomachenko undisputed lightweight championship at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The win over Nakathila marked Muratalla’s third straight knockout and twelfth in his past thirteen starts. The hope on his end is to pick up where he left off, even with a three-month interruption.

“You’re just going to see a great performance,” promised Muratalla. “I’ve trained really hard for this fight. We were close before but the fight couldn’t happen when we first planned.

“So, we’ve put in extra work and I’m just gonna put on a show for the fans.”