Felix Verdejo has become quite the inconsistent fighter. On some nights, he’ll have a boring 10-round decision performance wherein he battles off a rain of boos from the crowd and other nights he’ll set the crowd on fire.
Tonight was one of the latter nights.
Although in the early rounds Verdejo struggled to gain his footing against Juan Jose Martinez, who started the fight trying to stalk the proud Puerto Rican, Verdejo eventually found his target in the body and began to wear down the rough and tumble Mexican Martinez.
Around the fourth round, the lax and boring Verdejo started to show his colors as some of the restless crowd began to boo the initially lackluster performance, but by the fifth round Martinez was breaking down and Verdejo finally sat down on his punches and nailed Martinez with a hard right hand that sent the Mexico City native stumbling.
From there Verdejo teed off on the rather helpless Martinez and finished him off.
Verdejo should by now be seen as one of the better 135-pound fighters, but he’s in need of a top-tier opponent to challenge him and take him to new heights. Verdejo my very well be the goods, but there’s no telling until he faces the best.
When asked about his last few stinkers of fights, Verdejo said, “I lost focus—went through things that every young man has but now I am focused on my career.”
Verdejo is forward looking, and appears to be much improved in relation to those last fights.
“I want to fight the best,” he said after the fight. “That is all I want.”
Photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
