Uisma Lima is overjoyed that Jaron "Boots" Ennis has chosen him to be his first opponent at junior middleweight, but the 32-year-old isn’t going to meekly accept his fate when he takes on the outstanding American at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center on October 11.

Lima, born in Angola but based in Portugal, is confident that Ennis, the former Ring, IBF and WBA unified welterweight champion, will come to regret his decision. DAZN will stream their 12-round WBA title eliminator globally.

The heavy-handed Lima (14-1, 10 KOs) is well aware of the scale of the task he has undertaken but is looking forward to welcoming Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs, 1 NC) to 154 pounds.

"All my fights I'm an underdog. I know I’m an underdog,” he said during an appearance on Matchroom's Flash Knockdown show.

"I know I have a big, big mission in Philly, been training years and years to have these big missions with big athletes. All I want is the big dogs and Jaron is a man in my way."

Lima has spent the past three years travelling the world searching for opportunities.

Every time he boarded a flight, Lima did so hoping that this would be the fight, the win that would get him noticed.

In April 2024, he retired the undefeated Haro Matevosyan after 10 one-sided rounds in Germany and followed that by flying to Canada and upsetting Sukhdeep Singh Bhatti eight months later.

In May, he travelled to South Africa and stopped Shervantaigh Koopman (15-1, 10 KOs) in nine rounds before making his way back home to Portugal, awaiting developments. This time, the call came.

"My dream? Hard work every day and one day I will get a good opportunity like Boots and keep working to have my name in history," he said.

"I don't want to only be the number one in Portugal. I already did this. To me, I want Eddie Hearn and these big promoters to say. 'Uisma Lima ... this guy, you sure you want to fight with him?' I like this, people to fear me, respect me, I want respect."

The announcement that Ennis would box Lima was greeted with disappointment by fans who have been eager to see him test himself against the sport's biggest names.

None of that is Lima's fault and he's learned to pay little mind to other's opinions. Time and time again he has arrived in an opponent's backyard as the "B" side but left as the winner.

He knows that Ennis will be at the centre of attention but remains confident of leaving Philadelphia with the respect he craves.

"It hurts a little bit but it's not the first time," he said. "When I got to Canada, to Germany, to the UK please ask, 'Who is this guy?' When I finish the fight they say, 'Oh, Uisma is good'

"All I know is hard work and when I go to the fight I need to put my skills [on show] and people will know me.

"Boots, you will find me. You will see me. I'm not a big name but you will see I'm a big, big fighter."