By Ian S Palmer
The Virgin Hotel in Las Vegas is the site of a 10-round junior welterweight bout between former world champion Jose Pedraza of Puerto Rico and undefeated Julian Rodriguez of Hoboken, New Jersey this Saturday, June 12th. The fight can be seen live in America on ESPN+ and ESPN while fans in Canada can catch it on TSN 4. Pedraza last fought in September when he beat Javier Molina via a 10-round unanimous decision. Rodriguez last saw action in October when he stopped Jose Lopez in the third round.
Pedraza’s win over Javier Molina was is second straight after being beaten by Jose Zepeda via a 10-round unanimous decision in his September, 2019 for the vacant WBC USNBC Junior Welterweight Title. He had bounced back from that loss first by beating Mikel LesPierre by 10-round unanimous decision just two months earlier. The 32-year-old Pedraza is a former IBF Super Featherweight Champion who won the vacant belt in June of 2015 when he beat Andrey Klimov by unanimous decision.
He defended the crown twice by beating Edner Cherry and Stephen Smith by split and unanimous decisions respectively. Pedraza then lost his belt in his third defence when Gervonta Davis stopped him in the seventh round in January, 2017. After that he beat Jose Luis Rodriguez, Antonio Moran and Raymundo Beltran by unanimous decisions. He then ran into Vasyl Lomachenko in December, 2018, was dropped twice in the 11th round and lost a unanimous decision in a shot at the WBO and WBA World Lightweight Belts.
After that he stopped Antonio Lozada Torres in the ninth round and lost to Zepeda. The former champ climbs through the ropes with a record of 28-3 with 13 Kos. He’s 5-feet-8-inches tall with a reach of 70.5 inches and prefers to fight from the outside if possible. Pedraza turned pro in 2011 and isn’t much of a banger as his knockout ratio is 41.9 per cent, but his power shouldn’t be underestimated. He’s boxed 230 rounds and also owns a unanimous decision over Alberto Garza in 2014 and a seventh-round TKO over Sergio Reyes a year earlier.
Pedraza had a fine, extensive amateur career and represented Puerto Rico at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing where he lost in the second round of competition. Since turning pro he’s also won the WBC Youth World, USBA, and IBO World Super Featherweight Titles to go along with his WBO Latino Lightweight Crown.
Rodriguez is a 26-year-old who carries around a perfect record of 21-0 with 14 Kos. He turned pro in 2013 as a 19-year-old and has just 73 rounds of experience under his belt. He enjoyed a fine amateur career with a reported record of 221-9 and has been boxing since the age of seven. He was a 2013 National Golden Gloves Champion at 141 lbs and had a big year in 2012 by being a National PAL Championship Silver Medalist and a U.S. National Championship Silver Medalist. He was also a U.S. Olympic Alternate that year.
Rodriguez beat George Rincon and Robert Easter Jr in the amateurs and lost to Jamel Herring and Erickson Lubin. He stands 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 68.5-inch reach which means he’s an inch taller than Pedraza but gives up two inches in reach. He has better-than-average power with a current knockout ratio of 66.7 per cent. He hasn’t taken on any contenders as of yet so this is going to be a huge step up in class. His most-recognizable opponent so far as a pro has been Jerry Belmontes who he beat by eight-round unanimous decision in 2016. He also beat Anthony Laureano by first-round by TKO last year.
Prediction…
Rodriguez has plenty of skill and power but hasn’t faced any top-quality foes as a pro. Pedraza needs to use his slight reach advantage to keep him at bay and punish him when he’s in range. Pedraza has more experience against better opponents and this would normally swing things in his favour but Rodriguez fought close to 250 amateur bouts. It’s hard to go against Pedraza but I think with Rodriguez being six years younger and considering his power this bout may turn out like the Pedraza vs Gervonta Davis tilt. I’m going to give Rodriguez a slight edge in this clash.
