By Miguel Rivera
Puerto Rico's Jose 'Sniper' Pedraza knows what the options are in his future, now that he is the Latin champion of the World Boxing Organization (WBO) at 135 pounds.
The first objective is to finalize an agreement for a title fight with Mexican slugger Rey Beltran, who is the WBO world champion in the lightweight division.
The contest is being targeted by Top Rank, who is their mutual promoter, for ESPN date of August 25th.
However, Pedraza takes things slowly.
"We know that Top Rank has big plans for the rest of the year," Pedraza said to Carlos Gonzalez.
On June 9, the Puerto Rican boxer beat Antonio Moran by unanimous decision and, immediately, entered in the picture to challenge Beltran.
"I'm ready to fight again in August. I came out well from the fight against Moran. The rest time is over and soon I will be in the gym again. Although I did a thorough training for Moran, it was not as I usual do, it was not 100% because I was visiting a chiropractor and the track training was not done at the maximum," Pedraza explained.
The duel against Moran was exhausting. Even though the Mexican suffered a cut on the bridge of his nose in the second round, the bout reached the distance of 10.
"Morán is a tall boxer, with all the desire in the world, but Beltran is the typical Mexican who comes from the front. Maybe it's more comfortable (than Morán), but it does not mean it's less work," Pedraza warned.
For Pedraza, winning the WBO belt would consolidate him among the best in the division, but acknowledged that measuring strength with Vasyl Lomachenko is the final ambition.
"I'm just getting to my peak as an athlete. The maturity that one has is acquired with each training, each fight and that is why I understand that right now I am reaching my best moment," Pedraza insisted.
