Tha Boxing Voice had the chance to catch up with rising Puerto Rican fighter, Jose Pedraza a while ago to talk about his upcoming fight with Filipino banger, Michael Farenas.
Pedraza, (18-0, 12 KOs), last fought on August 15th, when he scored a 6th round stoppage of Juan Carlos Martinez in California. The fight with Farenas, which will take place on November 14th, will serve as a test to Pedraza who has been highly talked about for not fighting guys of his opposition. We had the privilege of asking Pedraza a few questions regarding the upcoming task.
We asked Pedraza how excited he was to be fighting a guy like Farenas in his native Puerto Rico, who gave Cuban sensation Yuriorkis Gamboa a good fight a few years back.
“I’m very content, very content because this a big opportunity we have been waiting for. Whoever wins between Farenas and I will become the mandatory for Rances Barthelemy. To have a world title is exciting and I know it’s going to be an exciting fight because Farenas is an experimented fighter and he’s very good, his record says it all.”
“We have been training for a couple weeks now, we have Rocky Martinez coming to the gym on Thursday to help prepare for the fight. We feel Rocky and Farenas have a similar come forward style and sparring will be helpful even though Martinez isn’t a lefty.”
Farenas, (39-4-4, 31 KOs), who is an experienced fighter, dropped Gamboa in their 2012 fight, and stopped undefeated prospect Mark Davis in 8 rounds back in July. We mentioned the power of Farenas to Pedraza, and if he is at all worried about it and how he would retaliate against it.
“Look, as far as being worried, we aren’t worried. We simply have to adjust to him, he’s not use to fighting southpaw’s even though he is one, but the majority of his fights have been with orthodox fighters. We are going to train to fight southpaw and box, do what I do best.”
We asked Jose if he feels that it should be Farenas who should more so be worried about Pedreza’s power, instead of Pedraza worried about his. He packs a 66.67% knockout ratio and has the ability to stop Farenas.
“Well, he shouldn’t be worried, but he shouldn’t be confident either. I don’t consider myself a big puncher, but if I have to plant my feet and throw bombs, I can do that, and he may have something to worry about there.”
As noted before, Pedraza has been criticized for not fighting guys of high caliber. With this fight with Farenas, who has tremendous experience, should Jose win, we wanted to know if this victory would be significant enough to legitimized him and have people who has talked before, finally give him respect and silence the critics.
“Look, arguing with a fan, gets you nowhere, he who knows boxing, knows! I have fought guys who have derailed undefeated prospects, like Gabriel Tolmajyan who’s a great boxer and has beaten many undefeated guys. He fought my friend Jorge Maysonet, I am a tested fighter, a lot a people claim I’m not but I am. Winning this fight, and I’m saying winning this fight because I’m confident and we have trained hard so I see this no other way, but winning this fight that most people are saying I won’t win, It won’t catapult me to be a guy like Mayweather or Pacquiao but it will earn me respect and when I obtain that title, I will silence a lot of fans and critics.”
