Pedraza vs. Commey Tops Top Rank’s Card on Saturday

Top Rank is in Tulsa tomorrow night (Saturday, Aug. 27) with a 9-fight card topped by a 10-round, 140-pound showdown between former title-holders Jose Pedraza and Richard Commey. Puerto Rico’s Pedraza (29-4, 14 KOs) is considered the better boxer but the Bronx-based Commey (30-4, 27 KOs) packs a harder punch. If the odds hold up, Pedraza, the Puerto Rican, will go to post the favorite in the 5/2 range, but this is a well-matched contest that will almost assuredly provide good entertainment.

Pedraza, a Beijing Olympian, nicknamed Sniper, previously held the IBF world super featherweight title and the WBO world lightweight title. He lost those belts to Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Vasyl Lomachenko – no shame there. In his last outing, Pedraza was out-pointed by Jose Carlos Ramirez on Ramirez’s turf in Fresno.

Commey, who had his early fights in his native Ghana, won the IBF world lightweight title in his second crack at it, annihilating the mysterious Russian Isa Chaniev, and made one successful defense before getting chopped down by Teofimo Lopez. In common with Pedraza, he too comes in off a loss. In his last outing in December of last year, he was out-pointed by Lomachenko.

Neither of these guys is getting any younger; Pedraza is 33 and Commey is 35. Hence, this is something of a crossroads fight. The winner remains relevant in what is currently a very sexy weight class and the loser will likely be reduced to an “opponent.”

The undercard showcases a trio of hot heavyweight prospects: Jared Anderson (11-0, 11 KOs), local product Jeremiah Milton (5-0, 4 KOs), and Olympic silver medalist Richard Torrez Jr (2-0, 2 KOs), plus Efe Ajagba (15-1, 12 KOs) who was considered a surefire future heavyweight champion in some quarters until his last start when he was comprehensively out-boxed by Frank Sanchez.

Anderson, who has been out of action since December with an unspecified injury, will appear on the main ESPN platform as will Torrez Jr who defeated Anderson in the amateurs. The undercard, which includes a 6-rounder between Tokyo Olympian Delante “Tiger” Johnson and Massachusetts import Harry Gigliotti, goes at 7 pm ET/ 4 pm PT with the main card kicking off at 10:30 ET / 7: 30 PT.

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