Former world champion Ray Beltran (35-8-1, 21 KOs), 37-years-old, is aiming to fight his way back to a world title.
Beltran is due to make his comeback on February 10 when he fights unbeaten super lightweight Hiroki Okada in Fresno.
Last February, Beltran finally won a world title when won a tough twelve round decision over Paulus Moses for the WBO lightweight title.
But his world title reign was very brief. He was dropped and lost a twelve round decision to top contender Jose Pedraza of Puerto Rico in August.
Beltran was left at the crossroads of his career in defeat - and he explains that his fights were effected by an injured hand
“I didn’t expect to lose the title that quick. It’s a lot of things that go through my head, you know, my mind. I was obviously very disappointed,” Beltran said to Boxing News.
“Everybody thinks about my retirement but I didn’t think I’m fighting bad, do you know what I mean? They seem to think about my retirement because of my age, or because of my performance? So I don’t think my performance is bad. My age, I’m 37, but I don’t think I’m fighting bad. I think people think about the age, but people stopped focusing on performance.”
“I fought Pedraza, I fought Moses, good fights, and people didn’t know, nobody knows, basically I fought those with one hand and my main hand [injured]. How can I say it? I don’t want to sound like I’m making an excuse but it is what it is. I fought those two guys with basically one hand and I didn’t fight that bad. Imagine, if my hand’s healthy, what I can do about it."
Beltran feels confident that a few more wins will bring him back to another world title fight.
“It’s all about performance. While I keep performing well, I’ll get my other title shot, you know. That’s all,” he says with fervour. “I’m not done yet. I’m not satisfied. I keep pushing. I’ll become a champion again. I really believe that,” Beltran said.
