Farenas and Pedraza make weight for IBF eliminator

Late on Thursday night saw the official weight in for Friday's IBF Super Featherweight title eliminator.

The bout will see former 2-time world title challenger Michael Farenas (39-4-4, 31) battling against unbeaten local star Jose Pedraza (18-0, 12) with the reward for the winner being a shot as at current IBF champion Rances Barthelemy (21-0-0-1, 12).

Farenas was the slightly lighter man coming in at 129.8lbs, his lowest weight since he took a split decision over Jason Egara back in 2012 though he was only marginally lighter than he has been for his recent fights, including his technical draw with Takashi Uchiyama and his recent win over Mark Davis. As for Pedraza he was bang on the Super Featherweight limit at 130lbs which is several lbs lighter than he has been in 3 of his last 4 bouts.

For Pedraza this is the biggest bout of his career and looks like a leap up in class. He may have home advantage but he really is stepping up in class. As for Farenas this will continue his string of tough bouts which as seem him up against not on Uchiyama but also Yuriorkis Gamboa in recent years.

We're expecting this one to be a cracking fight and there is danger for both men however the danger does come with the big reward of a world title fight in 2015. It's the danger that makes this bout so exciting and we hope it lives up to expectation.

(Image courtesy of Philboxing)

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