Jose Pedraza believes he over-trained for his 140-pound debut nine months ago.
Pedraza sparred 12 rounds on some days late in camp for his points loss to Jose Zepeda. Failing to wind down training camp at an appropriate pace left a fatigued Pedraza feeling flat the night of September 14, when Zepeda defeated him by unanimous decision in their 10-round fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“He was the better man that night,” Pedraza told BoxingScene.com. “But for this fight, I’ve been conscious about not over-training and knowing when to lower the intensity of my training.”
Pedraza’s preparation for his televised fight Thursday night against Mikkel LesPierre has been the complete opposite of his camp prior to his loss to Zepeda (31-2, 25 KOs, 1 NC). The COVID-19 pandemic prevented Pedraza (26-3, 13 KOs) from sparring much for their 10-round junior welterweight bout at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
The former IBF junior lightweight and WBO lightweight champion instead focused on conditioning for much of camp in his hometown of Cidra, Puerto Rico.
“I was able to do about 20 rounds of sparring before the lockdown started in Puerto Rico [in mid-March],” Pedraza said. “And after that, I didn’t do much sparring. I just focused on my cardiovascular work and doing mitts with my father/trainer.”
The 31-year-old Pedraza prefers sparring more than he did for this bout, but it wasn’t easy finding southpaw sparring on relatively short notice, about five weeks, amid a pandemic.
“It has been a little bit difficult because we had to adjust to the new reality,” Pedraza said. “But we have experience on our side, and I know what I have to do to get ready for a fight. So, I’ve been making adjustments. I say it’s difficult because we have not been able to use the gym or have sparring partners. But like I said, we have the experience on our side. We know what we have to do. What I’ve been doing mostly is a lot of mitts in my house, a lot of running through the mountains in my [hometown]. And that’s been great, a lot of cardiovascular work. That’s basically what we’ve been doing, but taking that into consideration, I feel that I have had good preparation for this fight.”
Pedraza considers the “school of combat” training he did in recent weeks preparation comparable to sparring.
“I’m sure that I’m gonna be ready for this fight because that’s basically like a sparring session, but a little bit more relaxed,” Pedraza said. “And we focused on striking the mitts, and using the body shield. So, I’m sure I’m gonna be ready with my timing and everything. And as far as my cardiovascular preparation, I’m sure I’m gonna be super ready because I have done great work with my conditioning.”
Pedraza expects to win impressively versus LesPierre (22-1-1, 10 KOs), a 35-year-old opponent who has lost only a 12-round unanimous decision to former WBO junior welterweight champion Maurice Hooker (27-1-3, 18 KOs).
“I’m expecting a good fight from him,” Pedraza said. “He’s a lefty, and they’re always difficult to deal with. I know he’s a world-class fighter, but I’m also a world-class fighter. I’m coming to get another big win because what I have in my mind is trying to get another world title shot at 140.”
Pedraza-LesPierre will headline ESPN’s six-fight show Thursday night (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
