By Ryan Burton
On Friday night former interim super lightweight titleholder Mauricio Herrera (22-6) will return to the ring against Pablo Cesar Cano (29-5-1) at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California. The fight will be broadcast by Estrella TV and streamed on RingTVlive.com.
In his last bout, Herrera was dominated by prospect Frankie Gomez on the Canelo Alvarez-Amir Khan undercard in Las Vegas. Herrera is known for giving top level fighters problems in the ring so his lack of any success was surprising. He attributed the lackluster effort to a bad training camp and a long layoff prior to the camp. He says that has all been corrected this time around.
"This camp has been good. Better than the last one, I can't lie. To be honest the last one I was lying to myself. This camp is a whole lot better. I feel strong again and I can't wait till Friday to show it off. The last camp I would rate a 4 and this a 10. I didn't have to lose a lot of weight like last time and I hadn't taken a lot of time a lot off like going into my last camp. I am going in hungry. I got a professional strength and conditioning coach for the first time," Herrera revealed.
With both fighters coming off losses and having suffered multiple losses throughout their career, it would be natural to classify this as a crossroads fights. Herrera, who came to this sport at a later stage, doesn't look at it that way. He feels that he still has a long time left in the sport.
"I never look at it like that. I turned pro at 27. I was already older. People have been counting me out since. I know how my body feels and the only time my body felt bad was the last camp. For this camp it feels great. I know my body and how much I can take and I think I still got a lot left and you will see against Cano on Friday. I think that I can still give anybody problems," Herrera stated.
Herrera is probably most well known for getting the short end of the stick on multiple occasions in high profile fights. Many observers felt that he should have been named the winner in his fights against Danny Garcia and Jose Benavidez Jr.
If he could get a rematch with either fighter, Herrera said that Garcia would be his preference.
"Of course the one that was for all the marbles was Danny Garcia. That was when he was on top of the 140 pound division. I think he had three titles including the Ring title. That was for everything and in Puerto Rico. What is better than to beat him in his backyard. That would have been my year. That and everybody else (Jose Benavidez and Johan Perez) I fought that year so I would choose Danny Garcia. That would mean the most so I would like to get a crack at that," said Herrera.
Garcia, who holds the WBC welterweight title, is scheduled to face WBA champion Keith Thurman on March 4th. Herrera feels that is a great fight but is leaning towards Thurman to pull off the victory.
"That is going to be hard. Danny has not looked great and not stood out as someone who is dominating at 147. If you look at the Robert Guerrero fight, Keith Thurman did a better job against him. Even Peterson, he didn't even dominate him when Peterson moved up. That is a tough fight for him but Thurman has shown that he can be hurt like in the (Jesus) Soto Karass fight and the bodyshot that (Luis) Collazo gave him. Maybe Thurman since he has extra movement and can get away from Danny but it will be fun to see," Herrera told BoxingScene.com.
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