Trainer: Arum Told Me Pedraza Has The Tools To Beat Loma
Aug 27, 2018 • 2:18 PM ET
By Miguel Rivera
Jose 'Sniper' Pedraza hit the lottery on Saturday night, when he dropped and outboxed Raymundo Beltran to capture the lightweight (135 pounds) title of the World Boxing Organization (WBO).
The victory allowed Pedraza to become a two-division world champion.
And, he also secured a December 1 unification against WBA lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko.
Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum, who promotes both boxers, had informed BoxingScene.com last week that both Pedraza and Beltran had signed contracts to fight Lomachenko on the December 1 date, likely in California.
"We can already talk about Lomachenko. First we were focused on Beltrán, but now we can look at the next thing. I came out well from this fight, I'm not battered and I will be available," Pedraza said to Carlos Gonzalez.
"[The fight with Beltran] was less complicated than I anticipated when I compare it with Antonio Moran. It was a bit more comfortable because of his height, although Beltrán was difficult because he put on a lot of pressure and he is a hard puncher."
Luis Espada, the coach and manager of Pedraza ,acknowledged that although the commitment is to fight Lomachenko, it would not bother him to take another route.
"My preference is to make at least two title defenses and wait until the summer of 2019 for Lomachenko because it would be more interesting to do it in New York for the Puerto Rican Day Parade, but the commitment that was made is that it would be in December," Espada said to Gonzalez.
A possible stumbling block will be Lomachenko's health. The talented boxer was operated on one shoulder in May after beating Jorge Lineres by technical knockout.
Espada will be alert to the eventuality that Lomachenko is not physically ready by December.
"Lomachenko comes from a break extended by the injury. Ideally, he should take a separate fight because now he has to go against a world two-division champion in Pedraza. In fact, (the promoter) Bob Arum said after the fight against Beltran that Pedraza has all the tools to beat Lomachenko," said Espada.
