Forget Hurricane Milton, Cyclone Tapia is in town and ready to continue sweeping through boxing's middleweight division all the way to a world title.
After growing up and spending hundreds of hours sparring with Tim Tszyu, the unbeaten Mateo Tapia finds himself on the bumper undercard to Australian boxing poster boy's world title showdown in Orlando on Sunday.
And the trailblazing Mexican-born, Sydney-raised, Florida-based talent reckons after - literally - surviving Hurricane Milton last week, stepping in to the ring against Venezuelan veteran Endry Saavedra will be nothing.
"Yeah, it was pretty daunting," Tapia told AAP of his experience dealing with Milton, the second-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded over the Gulf of Mexico, behind only Hurricane Rita in 2005.
The 26-year-old and his actor-model girlfriend Krystle Mollie live in St Petersburg in the Tampa Bay area, the eye of the storm, and were confronted with the infamous "leave or you will die" warnings from US authorities.
"Every couple of hours we would get that notification on the phone," Tapia said.
"We were watching it for like a week because they they let you know when there's something brewing, be careful and I even turned into a weatherman at points.
"St Petersburg is where it was meant to hit direct. So we were watching it for weeks and then as it got a bit closer, the line didn't change of where it could hit and we decided to evacuate."
After a few days in Miami trying to stay focused for his looming make-or-break fight in "still pretty scary" 165 km/h winds, Tapia copped a break.
"I saw we still had power because I had cameras in the house for my cats and they were still working," he said.
"So we're like, 'let's go home'.
"So everything's still on track and it's a big fight. It's a really big step for me and probably the most important in my career."
An exciting addition to the No Limit Boxing stable, Tapia is thrilled to be fighting before Tszyu's IBF super-welterweight headliner with unbeaten Russian at the Caribe Royale resort.
"It's pretty surreal," he said.
"We were kids (together) and we've been sparring for like four of five years so it's pretty surreal to be here with Tim.
"Tim's fighting for a world title and I have a very important fight in front of me, so I just can't wait."
Tapia has the distinction of featuring in the first bout on Amazon Prime's first night and, with 10 of his 17 victories coming via knockout, he reckons fans can expect to see "some fireworks, that's for for sure".
"I feel like I can rattle some feathers in the middleweight division, so that's what I'm here to do," he said, knowing another victory will edge him ever closer to his own world championship shot.
"I don't like speaking too much into the future, but hopefully.
"This is a tough fight I have in front of me but I can't wait to show the world you guys have another great fighter."
