By Mark Vester

Juan Manuel Lopez (27-0, 24 KO's) is heading off to New York City to finish up training camp for his move to the featherweight division to challenge WBO champion Steven Luevano (37-1-1, 15 KO's) on January 23 at Madison Square Garden. Juanma feels very strong at the weight. He plans to display his newfound power during the action.

"I feel good. I'm at 90% of my preparation. It's a matter of reaching New York. We leave on Thursday to adapt to the cold and making. I ended up with 136 rounds of sparring," said Lopez to Primera Hora. "I feel very strong. It's a matter of going to do the work plan as we have practiced, put pressure on Luevano punch for punch."

In his last fight, Juanma barely walked away. He was nearly stopped by Rogers Mtagwa in the final two rounds. He learned a lot and made the right adjustments for Luevano.

"We learned a lot from that fight, to be more calm," Juanma said. "Sometimes I tend throw a lot of unnecessary punches. I hit hard so I have to pull many punches. I going to go punch for punch. I'll wait for him to pull back and retaliate, but we must apply the pressure."

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