This past Saturday night, lightweight prospect Thomas Mattice (10-0, 8 KOs) remained undefeated by stopping Orlando Rizo (19-12, 11 KOs) in round seven of their scheduled eight-round bout at the Atrium Arena in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

The 27-year-old Mattice took out a veteran who has been in the ring with several world champions and contenders, but entered with five straight losses.

“I feel good. He was a tough veteran, but I caught him with some good shots, and as veterans do, he kept on coming, but I kept on landing and eventually got him out of their,” said Mattice.

Mattice is developing into a young veteran, as he went in there with a good idea of what he wanted to do.

“I learned a lot in that fight. I took my time and worked off the jab. I picked my shots and was not in a rush. I started to work the body and eventually broke him.”

Even though there is only six weeks left in the year, Mattice would not mind getting in another fight before the calendar changes to 2018.

“I may try to sneak one more in before the end of the year. If not, I will be back in there in January or early February. 2018 is going to be a big year for. I can see myself being ranked across the board by this time next year as I want to go from a prospect to a contender. This was a great fight for me, but expect to see me in bigger fights in 2018.”

His promoter Vito Mielncki of GH3 Promotions is on the same page as the three-year veteran, Mattice.

“That was a quality win over Rizo. Rizo is a guy who is a veteran who has faced everybody. That is 4 straight knockouts for Thomas and now he is coming into his power. He is really developing and I can see some great things for him as we look towards 2018.”