Curiosity has gotten the better of Lucas Adams.

As long as his opponent doesn't do the same, the 22-year-old Butler graduate is fine with that.

After nearly nine years of amateur boxing through the Butler Cubs program, Adams will make his professional debut as a light heavyweight Saturday night at Pittsburgh's Grand Hall at the Priory.

“This is something I've been thinking about doing for a long time,” Adams, a Fenelton resident, said. “Turning pro was never a goal of mine when I came here (to the Cubs Hall). Boxing was more like a hobby.

“But now, I feel like I'm ready. A lot of the guys I've fought in amateurs have already gone pro. I guess it's my turn.”

A boxer since 2011, Adams has a 30-15 amateur record. He was 3-1 in the ring last year.

“Lucas wanted to turn pro at this time last year and I didn't feel like he was ready,” Butler Cubs boxing manager Don Spinetti said. “Now I feel like he is.”

Adams was originally scheduled to fight Keith Coles of Pittsburgh in a mutual pro debut. He had defeated Coles twice as an amateur.

But Coles pulled out of the fight earlier this week and has been replaced by Brock Willis, a Clarksburg, W.Va., resident with a 1-1 record.

“That's boxing. It happens all the time,” Adams said.

Chicora resident Rich Cramer, a former state light heavyweight kick-boxing champion who runs a gym in East Brady, has been helping to train Adams for the past two years.

“He throws good, fast, hard punches,” Cramer said. “He throws good combinations and has a lot of (amateur) experience.

“Lucas isn't afraid to get in the ring with anybody. I think he'll do just fine.”

Willis is a West Virginia Toughman champion.

“I think Lucas can out-box him,” Spinetti said. “We've got some film on the guy, so we'll be prepared.”

The fight is scheduled for four rounds. Adams acknowledged that fighting pro is quite different from the amateur ranks.

Fighting professional means no shirt, no headgear and boxing with 10-ounce gloves instead of 12-ounce gloves.

“These gloves don't have as much padding, either,” Cramer said.

Adams has been sparring without headgear for a while now. He accepted this fight over the Christmas holiday and has been in the gym five or six days a week since.

He is employed as a steel worker in East Butler.

“I work shifts,” Adams said. “When I'm not there, I'm here.

“You definitely feel the punches a lot more,” he said of the 10-ounce gloves. “I've been working on my strength and conditioning over the past couple of months.”

Though he cannot return to the amateur ranks after fighting a pro bout, Adams will not commit to a second pro fight.

Not yet, anyway.

“I'll see how this one works out and go from there,” he said.

Adams becomes the seventh Butler Cubs boxer in Spinetti's 45 years with the program to turn pro. He follows Mike McGrady, Brian Minto, Billy Wolfe, Bobby Osterrider, Ryan Covert and Donovan Malovich.