Lampley mentioned this was possible. Two very skilled Puerto Rican prospects, one (Verdejo) a big speed guy, the other slower but more well-rounded overall.
Pedraza has a better boxing IQ, more versatile, punch variation, better footwork, better defense, head movement, more accurate (Verdejo missed a lot imo), good jab, extremely intelligent in there. Verdejo has speed advantage, power, and he's explosive. I was very impressed with Pedraza. I doubt this fight happens, but it would be awesome.
Awesome match, of my threads Pedraza and Verdejo were among the first 15 I did. I think Pedraza takes it on points, however Verdejo is skilled enough to land on Pedraza cleanly more than most and has enough power to change the complexion of the fight quickly and we haven't really seen Pedraza's chin truly tested yet. But it seems solid.
This kid Verdejo has STAR written all over him. Fan friendly style for the casual fan and enough "real-skill" to satisfy hard-core fans too. Showtime was saying that Predraza could be the best from PR...NOT EVEN CLOSE!!!!
I gotta take Verdejo in this one, they both have skills but Verdejo's killer instinct will be the difference me thinks.
Verdejo would have KO Najera yesterday sad for Him that His had got injured again very early in the fight. He willl be out of action maybe until October.
At this point in time Pedraza is a little too advanced for Verdejo, maybe in a couple of years I could change my mind.
Felix was good, I didn't think he was THAT fast but very sharp and great technique. Doesn't seem like a killer like trinidad was since they were comparing them quite a bit, but does seem very efficient with both hands and can box well.
Lampley on the HBO broadcast, with his penchant for hyping the network fighter and minimizing fighters on competitor networks, himself said it was a makeable and very intriguing fight.
Like he went out of his way to bring up the fact that Pedraza had won a title earlier in the night (though of course he kept the name "Showtime" out of his mouth)
Haven't seen any of Pedraza, and have seen a couple of Verdejo's fights. Watching one of Pedraza's fights right now, and he seems to be more of a pure boxer than Verdejo.
I'll just go with Pedraza on points, to be honest. I was very impressed by him against Klimov. The story seems to be all about Wilder, but he deserved a mention. 130 lbs. is getting a bit interesting: Pedraza, Miura, Uchiyama, Fortuna, and Vargas. Someone just needs to unify the division already.