Yoenli Hernandez is 10 years younger than him, has knocked out almost 90 percent of his pro opponents and is listed as a 16-1 favorite by DraftKings in their 10-round middleweight match Saturday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena. You’ll have to forgive Gausha for refusing to believe the hype that has quietly transformed Hernandez, The Ring’s No. 2 contender, into the middleweight division’s newest boogeyman.

Though beyond his physical prime, Gausha is the most proven opponent of Hernandez’s four-year pro career. The longtime contender in the junior middleweight and middleweight divisions has faced current middleweight champs Erislandy Lara and Carlos Adames and former junior middleweight titleholders Austin Trout and Tim Tszyu since he turned pro after competing at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

“I’m looking at him being a younger, stronger guy,” Gausha told The Ring. “I got to be ready for everything, but I’ve seen everything.”

Hernandez (9-0, 8 KOs) doesn’t fight like most Cubans because he has blended an aggressive American style with his extensive amateur background since he began training in the United States two years ago. Gausha (24-5-1, 12 KOs) is an effective defensive fighter, but he suggested he might be more offensive-minded when Hernandez opens up.

“I think he’s a person who likes to bring the fight,” Gausha said. “I think he tries to impose his will on you and he tries to throw big shots here and there. He’s a solid fighter, but I been training and I’m solid as well.”

Hernandez predicted he’ll become the first opponent to knock out Gausha, sometime before the ninth round.

“He a fighter,” Gausha said. “That’s what he supposed to think. I feel like I'm a knock him out. He’s supposed to think like that, but it ain’t happening. He going to be in for a surprise when he fights somebody like me. I don’t believe he’s fought nobody of my caliber yet.”

Kyrone Davis took Hernandez the distance two fights ago. He dropped Davis (19-4-1, 6 KOs) in the second round and shut out the durable American on all three scorecards, 100-89 apiece, May 31 at nearby Mandalay Bay. That win helped Hernandez secure top five rankings with the WBA (No. 1), WBC (No. 4) and WBO (No. 4).

“Not to take nothing away from Kyrone Davis, but I’m just confident in myself,” Gausha said. “I just feel like [Hernandez] hasn’t fought nobody with the same experience as me. I been to the top level, the Olympics, fought Erislandy Lara, fought Adames, so it is what it is. We’ll see what he can do.”

Gausha, who lives and trains in Southern California, will fight for the first time since his controversial split-decision defeat to Elijah Garcia in March 2025. The Cleveland native believes he beat Garcia (17-1, 13 KOs), yet he is thankful for the opportunity to upset the highly regarded Hernandez on the Sebastian Fundora-Keith Thurman pay-per-view undercard (8 p.m. ET; $74.99).

“It’d do a lot to my career,” Gausha said. “It’d put me right where I need to be. That’s why I took this fight, because I knew he was on the come up. But I feel like I’m right there. My last fight, I felt like I was right there. I didn’t get the decision, but I feel like that fight put me in a position to fight a person like [Hernandez], which will bring me closer to another world title shot.”