Mexican contender Antonio Lozada Jr. (40-3-1, 34KO) came to fight like he always does, bringing the heat to Puerto Rico’s Jose ‘Sniper’ Pedraza (26-2-0, 13KO) , but Pedraza was ready for the challenge and brought his own heat with him, engaging in a firefight with both combatants fighting much of the fight on the inside, and setting each of their shots up in the pocket. 

Pedraza slowly over time has turned himself into one of boxing’s best tacticians, and he put it on full spectacle tonight, with nonstop head and foot movement while in closed quarters, evading and shoulder-rolling most of Lozada’s power punches to land shots of his own.  Lozada kept his foot on the gas pedal, not allowing himself to get frustrated, but Pedraza seemed to have a beat on his timing and anticipation. After establishing a good command of control in the fight, Pedraza let his hands go in the 8th round, digging some mean body punches on Lozada, and throwing 3, 4, 5 punch combinations upstairs. Pedraza continued the trend in the 9th round, and belted Lozada with a vicious left cross to the chin at the back-end of the round. Lozada got up, but Pedraza continued his assault, with feverish combinations until Lozada’s Father/Trainer jumped up on the ring apron to hold his son as a signal for the fight to be stopped.

This was the first stoppage win for Pedraza in a while, and as has been the case in the last 4 – 5 fights, Pedraza looked very sharp tonight and seems to continuously improve over time.