Robert Garcia is anticipating a much tougher test for Vergil Ortiz Jr. than oddsmakers are when the junior middleweight knockout artist faces Erickson Lubin on November 8 at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

Garcia, The Ring's 2024 Trainer of the Year, coaches Ortiz, who is a minus-800 betting favorite against the plus-500 underdog Lubin, according to FanDuel.

“It's a great fight and great test for Vergil,” Garcia told The Ring. “Lubin is an experienced fighter who's been in there with top guys and done well in most of them. It will be a good challenge for us. Vergil is looking for the biggest fights out there, and this is a big one, too. Lubin was available, and we didn't hesitate to take the fight right away.”

Ortiz (23-0, 21 KOs) is The Ring’s No. 1 rated contender at 154 pounds, Lubin (27-2, 19 KOs) is No. 5.

Ortiz will be heading into his homecoming main event fight to headline a Golden Boy card on DAZN coming off a career-best win against former titleholder Israil Madrimov in February.

“Vergil had a great performance against Madrimov, who almost beat Terence Crawford in a close fight last year,” said Garcia. “There was no reason to take a step back and take on an easier opponent. We're already competing against the best in the division.”

Lubin is as good as they come in the loaded 154-pound division.

Since his second career loss against Sebastian Fundora in a 2022 thriller, Lubin has put together an impressive three-fight rebound. He’s scored victories over Luis Arias, Jesus Ramos Jr. and most recently against Ardreal Holmes Jr. this past May.

In the war with Fundora, Lubin traded knockdowns and was ahead on two scorecards – with the third even – before his corner made the difficult decision to halt the bout after nine rounds due to the sustained punishment he was absorbing.

The loss has aged well for Lubin, as the WBC champion Fundora is regarded by most as the division's top guy.

Lubin’s only other career defeat came back in 2017, when Jermell Charlo stopped him in the opening round. Yet, much like after the Fundora loss, Lubin responded with resilience, rattling off six straight wins against the likes of Jeison Rosario and Terrell Gausha.

“If there are no champions available, we want the next toughest guy who's going to give us a challenge,” said Garcia.