By Miguel Rivera

Puerto Rican lightweight star Felix "El Diamante" Verdejo will be watching for this Saturday's match between current World Boxing Organization (WBO) 135-pound champion Terry Flanagan and tough challenger Petr Petrov.

The Puerto Rican maintains in a firm manner that his objective is to fight the winner of the contest taking place at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, Lancashire.

"We'll be keeping an eye on that Flanagan fight, who is going against a tough opponent in Petrov. We will see what happens and depending on the result we will know what is coming, but Felix is ??training to fight for the world title," said Ricky Marquez, coach and manager of Verdeo, to Carlos Gonzalez.

Last February, Verdejo (23-0, 15 KOs) defeated Nicaraguan Oliver Flores. Although the Puerto Rican prevailed by unanimous decision, the contest raised doubts because he was in trouble against an opponent with questionable punching power. In fact, there is no longer confirmation that Verdejo would fight in June at Madison Square Garden in New York.

"We do not know when [his next fight] will be. We will wait first for the outcome of Flanagan and Petrov to then determine what will happen. I can not say definitively that it will be that world title fight, but so far it is what is being discussed," added Marquez.

"Felix is ??training for a world title fight. We do not have the certainty that this will be the case, but we have to prepare for that eventuality."

Verdejo is currently ranked first in the WBO classifications at 135 pounds.

"Felix has been doing the track work. He has also continued working with a sports psychologist and I understand that this has been very positive for Felix both for his concentration and for what he wants to do with his life and career. He's training like he's going to fight," said Marquez.