Antonio Moran Aims To Impress Against Victor Zuniga

By Francisco Salazar

Fringe lightweight contender Antonio Moran more than held his own in his clash against current WBO titleholder Jose Pedraza on June 9.

Moran believes he can compete against the best fighters at 135 pounds. First, he must take care of business tonight against a late replacement.

Moran will take on Victor Zuniga in a 10-round bout at the Auditorio Blackberry in Mexico City. The fight will air on Telemundo (11:35 p.m. ET/ PT).

The loss to Pedraza snapped a three-bout winning streak for Moran, who resides in Mexico City. Moran (23-3, 16 knockouts) did win praise from boxing fans and scribes for his performance in losing a close unanimous decision.

“Antonio lost a very close decision in his U.S. debut,” promoter Tuto Zabala told BoxingScene.com. “We are very proud of the effort against Pedraza and, at 25 years of age, we hope he gets another opportunity to fight for a world title belt.”

Moran was scheduled to fight Edson Ramirez, but Ramirez reportedly came down with a cold over the last couple of days. The boxing commission in Mexico City refused to allow Ramirez to fight.

Zuniga (19-2, 9 KOs) defeated Juan Ocura by unanimous decision in his last bout on Nov. 16 in his hometown of Ciudad Acuna, Mexico.

Zuniga turned pro at the age of 16.

Flyweight Rene Santiago (6-1, 5 KOs) of Puerto Rico will square off against Giovani Garcia Barragan (2-2-1) in a six-round bout.

Flyweight Adrian Curiel (10-1, 3 KOs) will face Daniel Romero Garcia (3-7) in a six-round bout.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing