Junior middleweight Andreas Katzourakis won the OTX Boxing junior middleweight tournament and hopes to take his success into his next fight May 9 at Red Owl Boxing Arena in Houston.

Katzourakis, who trains with Ronnie Shields in Houston, will be facing fellow Texas transplant Roberto Cruz.

Despite living three hours away from Killeen, Texas, where Cruz is from, Katzourakis, 15-0 (10 KOs), has never encountered him.

“I didn't know the guy,” Katzourakis told BoxingScene. “I watched a couple of his fights, his last fight, which was a year ago. He looks like a strong, durable guy who is going to be there to fight. I think, stylistically, it's going to be a good matchup for me because I like to fight as well.”

Katzourakis, 27, is hoping to have an eventful 2025, starting with the Cruz fight. If all goes well, he hopes to fight again in July, get married around August and then return to the ring in December. In any case, he is focused solely on his upcoming bout. It comes on the heels of a big 2024 for Katzourakis, who defeated three ranked opponents en route to winning the OTX Boxing event – including a majority decision over Kudratillo Abdukakhorov in the opening round.

“The whole experience was amazing,” Katzourakis said. “All three fights gave me something different to look at and a different experience that I added to my arsenal. The Abdukakhorov fight, [it was] because he was a guy who had a style I hadn’t faced in the pros. He had the Soviet-European amateur style. He was very active, and I feel like he came looking his best.”

In the second round, Katzourakis defeated Robert Terry by a split decision.

“The Terry fight proved to be tougher than what I expected,” Katzourakis said. “I thought it would be easier; maybe it was the first time I slightly underestimated an opponent of mine, and that didn't help as well.”

Then, in the finals, he defeated Brandon Adams via split decision to win the tournament. Adams, who recently spoke with BoxingScene, disagreed with the outcome of the fight and thought he won.

"Walking back to the corner after the first round,” Katzourakis said, “I was thinking in my mind in those first few steps going back to the corner, ‘This can't be this easy. He's going to open up later. Then we fight the second round. Same thing, walking back to the corner. I'm like, ‘Looks like that might be his thing.’ After the sixth-round passed, because we are fighting a 10-round fight, walking back to the corner, I'm celebrating inside.

“In my mind, I won every round, from the beginning ‘til the sixth round,” Katzourakis said. “It was easier than Abdukakhorov because he gave me what I wanted on a silver platter.”

Now Katzourakis will face Cruz, 11-0 (7 KOs), also 27, a Puerto Rican fighter based out of Texas. Cruz, in his past two fights, has stepped up his level of opposition, stopping previously unbeaten Ahmed Conteh and Terry Chatwood. Cruz will enter the Katzourakis matchup on a four-fight knockout streak, though he fought only once in 2024.

“I feel like your next fight, it's always your biggest fight and your most difficult one,” Katzourakis said. “Those are facts, that the guy is not on the level of Adams – but that doesn't mean that he's not going to be a difficult opponent. I'm not underestimating him at all.”

Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.