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Former unified junior welterweight champion Jose Carlos Ramirez 26-1 (17) is looking to rebound from his first professional loss when he takes on former WBO lightweight and IBF super featherweight champion Jose ‘The Sniper’ Pedraza 29-3 (14) at the Save Mart Arena in Fresno, California tonight.
The 29-year-old lost his WBC and WBO crowns to WBA and IBF champion Josh Taylor in Las Vegas last May.
“My goal is to stay at the highest level of competition,” Ramirez said. “My goal is to become a world champion again. You have to fight the best to be ready for those fights. I don’t want any easy fights. I don’t want to be fighting fights that are going to be tuneup fights.
“That’s the only thing I’ve been thinking about throughout the whole training camp, pushing myself to learn from my mistakes and to become a world champion again. I feel hungry. I feel like the Jose Ramirez that got his opportunity in 2018 and became world champion for the first time. I just want it back. I want to go out there and perform my best and to showcase my talent in front of all the fans. It means a lot. I’m looking forward to it.
“I think every fighter can relate to this. After a great loss, we get to see who stays and who left, and it shows that after taking that first loss you actually get a better team together because those that left were probably not helping you at all. So those that stay with you are the ones showing loyalty and believing in you.
“I was able to train with no pressure. I was able to train and be myself. The biggest thing that I learned from myself when I faced Josh Taylor is that the only person that can defeat me is my own self.
“I feel like that’s a fight that I lost. I don’t believe he beat me because he’s the better fighter. That fight I lost because I wasn’t at my best, mentally and physically. I learned to accept it and I want to earn the shot at the titles with my actions. I hope to show the best of my abilities on Friday.
“For me to just kind of open up the door for these fighters is quite an honor and I’m grateful yet humble to be here and continue fighting at this level.”
Puerto Rican Pedraza, 32, is the underdog going into the fight, but he is certainly no slouch. He has shared the ring with some of the best from 130 to 140 pounds, including Vasiliy Lomachenko and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
“I definitely recovered a hundred percent [from Covid],” Pedraza said. “If that wasn’t the case you wouldn’t be seeing me facing Jose Ramirez in this great fight.
“It would mean a lot becoming champion for a third time. It would put my name along with the legends of Puerto Rico and it would mean lot for the island, too.
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