Hebert Conceicao Sousa is peaking and shifting. With the middleweight division featuring 42-year-old champion Erislandy Lara and PED-positive unified champion Janibek Alimkhanuly, the opportunity to become a champion is too rich to deny.

So Brazil’s Sousa, 9-0 (5 KOs), is embracing the developments by dropping from super middleweight for his middleweight debut Thursday night in the co-main event of ProBoxTV’s card from Fort Lauderdale, Florida’s War Memorial Auditorium.

“I hope it’s my very best performance. I’ve been working so hard for this moment. It’s so important as I look to my next step and, hopefully, for a world title,” Sousa told BoxingScene Wednesday after weighing in at 160.4 pounds for his bout versus veteran Elias Espadas, 23-7-1 (16KOs).

Espadas, who was stopped in the fifth round by WBO 154lbs champion Xander Zayas in 2022, is coming off an upset majority draw with Sadriddin Akhmedov and a June technical-decision loss to Callum Walsh.

Sousa, who counts former super-feartherweight champion and Brazilian countryman Robson Conceicao as a close friend, said defeating Espadas convincingly is a pivotal step in his plans for 2026 and beyond.

For now, Sousa is placed under the return of recent junior-featherweight title challenger Ramon Cardenas on this card, but he believes his boxing skill can carry him to main-event stature in short order.

Coming off a unanimous-decision victory over Brazil’s 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Yamaguchi Falcao, the 6-feet-1 ½-inch Sousa brings a 76-inch reach and the power of a naturally heavier middleweight. 

“It’s as important of a step in my career as there’s ever been,” Sousa said. “I’m looking to take that step up to becoming a main-event fighter, and if I keep winning those, a world title gets closer.”

The ProBoxTV card, with full weights below, begins at 6 p.m. Eastern Thursday on ProBoxTV’s YouTube channel.

“A knockout is a consequence of a good fight. I work hard, put in the time to win, so if the knockout comes, good,” Sousa said, knowing that Espsadas has only been knocked out twice in his 31 fights.

WEIGHTS FROM FORT LAUDERDALE

10 rounds, junior-featherweight

Ramon Cardenas 124lbs, Erik Ayala 123.6lbs

10 rounds, middleweight

Hebert Conceicao Sousa 160.4 lbs, Elias Espadas 160.2lbs

8 rounds, middleweight

Joeshon James 163.4, Yojanier Martinez 165.4

10 rounds, super-lightweight

Mykquan Williams 141.6lbs, George Pardo 145lbs

8 rounds, super-welterweight

Bryan Polaco, 153.2lbs, Marlon Harrington 153.2lbs

4 rounds, junior-featherweight

Kenyan Valle, 123.6lbs, Taran Ward 128lbs