By Jake Donovan 

Stephon ‘Showstopper’ Young was given a much better look at the other side of the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight bracket in his last fight than the one in which he ultimately landed.

It hasn’t at all discouraged the aspiring contender from seizing the opportunity of a lifetime.

The 30-year old southpaw jumped at the chance to face reigning bantamweight titlist Nonito Donaire, replacing an injured Zolani Tete who suffered a shoulder injury earlier in the week. There were talks of salvaging the bout and rescheduling for a June 15 WBSS show in Riga, Latvia.

Instead, Donaire—who has planes-full of family and friends flying into Louisiana this weekend—will remain on the show, making the first defense of his bantamweight title. The 36-year old Filipino-American star claimed the strap in a 4th round injury stoppage of Ryan Burnett in the WBSS quarterfinals last November.

Yet another opponent injury surfaces for the four-division champ, but one where the alternate option was in the right place at the right time.

Young was already due to appear on the undercard of Saturday’s show at the Cajun Dome in Lafayette, La. but has now received a major upgrade to the evening’s co-feature slot. 

“I was walking in circles for ten minutes eyes full of tears of joy,” Young (18-1-3, 7KOs) said when informed by manager Henry Rivalta of what will be his first shot at a full title. “I felt amazing with the news. It’s a real dream come true to be in this position.”

Young is no stranger to tough challenges, having fought to draw verdicts with previously unbeaten prospects Antonio Nieves and Nikolay Popatov while on the way up the ranks. He managed three wins following the Showtime-televised draw with Popatov before dropping a 12-round decision to unbeaten Reymart Gaballo in their interim title fight last March.

From there came a hard conversation with trainer Herman Caicedo, boxing’s last remaining disciple of the late and legendary Angelo Dundee. Young trains out of—and occasionally living in—his Miami-based training complex complete with furnished bedrooms which also houses current heavyweight contender Luis Ortiz and former bantamweight champ Juan Carlos Payano.

The 30-year old southpaw originally from St. Louis has since rebounded with a 10-round win over Wilner Soto last October. The bout came on the undercard of a WBSS card featuring unbeaten bantamweight titlist Emmanuel Rodriguez, whom barely outpointed Australia’s Jason Moloney to advance to the semifinals where he next faces tournament favorite Naoya Inoue on May 18 in Scotland.

Young’s placement on the card was as a tournament alternate, similar to his previously-planned assignment on Saturday’s show. In facing Donaire, he now gets his third assigned opponent, as he was originally scheduled for a rematch with Potapov, who was pulled from the show earlier in the week.

Replacing Potapov was Daniel Lozano, a fringe contender from central Florida. The two are polar opposites in terms of size (Lozano is a generous 5’3”, at least two inches shorter than Potapov) and style, while neither would have prepared Young for what Donaire—a four-division world champion and future Hall of Famer—brings to the table.

But then, the motto in Young’s camp is to simply be ready for anything.

“Really, until today the only thing we knew for sure was that we were fighting this weekend,” Caicedo explained to BoxingScene.com. “We came into this thing fighting one guy, then told we were fighting someone else.

“Of course, today’s update was a change we gladly welcome. It’s a great fight, a great opportunity for Stephon and he’s going to show the world on Saturday night why they call him ‘The Showstopper.’ In our gym, he’s surrounded by world champions all the time. On Monday, we will hang one more championship on the gym wall.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox