By Ryan Burton
Blue chip Puerto Rican prospect Felix Verdejo (16-0) has very ambitious plans for his career. The 21-year-old super featherweight recently recoded the WBO Prospect of the Year award.
The 2012 Puerto Rican Olympian is 6-0 this year with 5 knockouts and can pad his record further when he faces Karim El Ouazghari on December 13th in Philadelphia in a fight televised by UniMas.
The current WBO champion at 130 pounds is Orlando "Siri" Salido who has captured WBO titles in two different divisions. Verdejo said that he would be very open to facing Salido down the road for his title.
"We are preparing for the future. He is the champion now. If he is still the champion in the division when the time comes then I would love to face him or whoever is the champion," Verdejo explained.
A Salido-Verdejo matchup would be very enticing to fans. In addition to featuring the veteran versus up and coming prospect angle, it would also be another chapter in the storied Mexico-Puerto Rico rivalry.
Verdejo is a student of the game and sad that when the time comes he would love to be part of the intense rivalry.
"I have a lot of respect for the Mexican fighters. They are very tough warriors. It is part of competition and nothing personal towards them but yes I would like to be part of the future chapters of the rivalry," Verdejo told BoxingScene.com.
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