The boxing world at large may not have seen much of Junior Younan yet, but the Brooklyn native says the other top names in his division are familiar with who he is.

Younan says he knows a few of the names he hopes to land a meaningful fight against are keeping tabs on him because he can see that they have viewed his Instagram stories – even though they don’t follow him on the social media platform.

“I know they’ve been watching. All these guys pick and choose because they know,” said the 29-year-old Younan, 21-0-1 (13 KOs).

“I’m all risk and no reward. But I’ve brought myself back to a place where they know. I can’t keep being denied.”

Younan can put himself in a better position to land those big names in the super middleweight division if he can make a statement against Abel Mina, the Ecuadorian trialhorse with a record of 18-3-1 (9 KOs), on March 22 at Paramount Theatre in Huntington on New York’s Long Island. The 10-round fight will headline a card promoted by Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing.

Younan, a one-time child boxing prodigy who is approaching his 12th year as a professional, has finally been catching his stride in the pros, scoring back-to-back knockouts last year after signing with Star Boxing. Still, he knows now is not the time to lose focus. The 32-year-old Mina, who has fought mostly as a junior middleweight, showed he could stand up to punches from a full fledged super middleweight last year, when he held former title challenger Kamil Szeremeta to a draw in February of 2024.

“I can’t take him lightly, because if I do he’ll steal rounds and try to survive. I personally feel like I’m gonna get him out of there because I just know where I’m at right now. I know the level that I’m performing at. I’m just really close to something big. I can’t let anyone get in my way so I’m gonna go in there and do what I have to do,” said Younan.

Younan’s father/trainer Sherif Younan, best known for his work as trainer for Paulie Malignaggi, agrees with his son’s assessment.

“[Mina] can't afford to make one mistake with Junior because he will sleep, period. I don’t believe he faced anyone like my son in terms of size, speed and power but we never underestimate anyone,” said Sherif Younan.

Younan is holding his camp at Triple Threat Gym in Colorado Springs, where he reaps the conditioning benefits of training at altitude. The Mina fight is his fourth camp there, having first previously visited when he accompanied Marcus Browne there ahead of Browne’s 2019 fight against Badou Jack.

Younan has been in Colorado Springs since January 1, but he has some company with him to help prevent homesickness. He has his three-month old french bulldog, Boots, who he calls “my little training buddy,” plus Rambo, a one-year-old Dutch Shepherd that was gifted to Sherif Younan last year by Younan’s strength and conditioning coach, Pastor Promise Lee, who also owns a dog training facility.

Their other two dogs, Chayane, another Dutch Shepherd, and Apollo, an American bulldog, await them back home in Marlboro, New Jersey.

Younan is in a much better place as a professional now than he had been at one time. After signing with the now-defunct RocNation in 2015, he sustained his only career blemish - a split draw with Ronald Ellis in 2018 - but found himself benched for two years, from March of 2019 until April of 2021. He scored his first significant victory 15 months after that, stopping the 10-1 Dauren Yeleussinov in one round on the Danny Garcia vs. Jose Benavidez Jnr undercard in July of 2022, but still he struggled to stay busy until signing with Star Boxing in 2024, which led to two victories, both by stoppage, at Paramount Theatre. 

Younan understands the importance of looking impressive against someone the level of Mina if he wants to land an important fight in the division.

“I would love anybody that’s in front of me. In a perfect world I would love Christian Mbilli. I’d fight Kevin Lele Sadjo, a Jaime Munguia fight. I’d take any of these guys. I’ve been calling out Caleb [Plant] for years. I personally believe I’m ready for all this,” said Younan, who is rated No. 9 by the WBA at 168lbs.

Younan's promoter DeGuardia says the matchup he'd like to see is an all-Brooklyn fight with Edgar Berlanga.

"Junior will be ready for anybody after he fights March 22," said DeGuardia. "We’d love to match Junior against Edgar Berlanga. It is a truly compelling, all-Brooklyn showdown that would draw well. If not Berlanga, any other top super middleweight. Junior is ready for them all."

Younan's father also thinks his son is ready for anyone.

“God willing Junior is victorious, [then] it's time for the big boys to take off their skirts and face the future of the super middleweight division,” said Sherif Younan.

The rest of the card will include an eight round junior middleweight fight between Micky Scala, 11-0 (6 KOs), against Mario Zabojnik, 12-1 (6 KOs), plus junior welterweight Yan Carlos Perez, 4-0 (2 KOs), against Yeuri Andujar, 7-6-1 (4 KOs), in an eight rounder, as well as Isaah Flaherty, 7-0 (3 KOs), against Jakob Turac, 3-2 (3 KOs), in an eight round super middleweight fight.

Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.