By Jake Donovan
Less than 12 hours after his opponent flew cross-country for his grand arrival, Daniel Lozano enjoyed a peaceful drive in arriving on the scene Thursday morning for his upcoming clash with Ricardo Rodriguez. The two collide on Friday at the A La Carte Pavilion in Tampa, less than 90 minutes from Lozano's hometown of Bowling Green, Florida.
The bout will air live on Telemundo, serving as the third week of the four-date summer season of the network's Boxeo Telemudo series.
“It's great to be back at A La Carte which has been home of many of my fights,” noted Lozano (13-2, 10KOs), who has emerged as a fan favorite both on the network and in the Tampa region. “I want to be world champion and this is a must win fight for me.”
Friday's headliner marks his fifth straight appearance on Telemundo, and with the majority of his young career to date taking place in the Central Florida region.
The results have been a mixed bag, as the junior bantamweight is 2-2 in his last four starts. His network debut resulted in the first loss of his career, suffering an 8th round stoppage at the hands of Matthew Villanueva, who abruptly retired from the sport soon thereafter.
A pair of wins comprised of Lozano's 2014 campaign, both of which came in the Telemundo 115 Lb. tournament that helped propel the network to record-breaking ratings. Included among the lot was a 4th round knockout of Jonathan Vidal last October at the A La Carte Pavilion, a venue he will play for the 9th time in his career.
The win over Vidal placed Lozano into the tournament finals, but he came up well short in a 10-round loss to David Carmona this past March in Arcadia, Florida. The loss resulted in his conceding a regional belt, one that led to Carmona moving on to his second shot at a major title.
Lozano views this Friday as the opportunity to rebuild and head down that same path.
“I’m eager to get in the ring (on Friday) and win my WBO Latino belt back. I want to thank my promoter (Felix 'Tutico' Zabala, Jr.'s All-Star Boxing) and team for giving me another chance,” Lozano stated.
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox