Before Saturday’s fight, Jose Pedraza had his sights set on becoming a world champion in three weight divisions. He had already beat Mikkel LesPierre in Las Vegas two months ago, and another good win would put him in position to fight for a world title.

He was able to do that on Saturday as he scored a unanimous decision win over Javier Molina (99-91, 98-92 twice) and move to 28-3 in his pro career. This was the second win that he attained since losing to Jose Zepeda a year ago. For Molina, he falls to 22-3 and it halts the winning streak that he started in 2018.

Pedraza looked for opportunities to land good shots and when they came he took advantage of them. Over the course of the ten round fight, Pedraza landed 164 of the 519 punches that he threw. He was also good on the defensive side as Molina was only able to land 49 of 338 punches. Most of it was due to Pedraza not letting Molina get his punches off as he was often first to attack and used spacing very well plus countered Molina on multiple occasions. By the last round Pedraza caught Molina with a big shot which backed Molina up, but not enough for Pedraza to finish the fight with a stoppage.

When it came to what led to Pedraza’s win over Molina he brought up his composure during the course of the fight. “They do name me the ‘Sniper,’ and that means I have to be patient, and when my moment comes, I have to take advantage of it,” he said after his win. “I was able to wear him down, break him down and make him fight my fight. It was the experience that I’ve had at the top level that helped me finally put it together.”

His win gives him a boost in the super lightweight division, as it waits for the potential undisputed title fight between Jose Ramirez and Josh Taylor. Ramirez beat Viktor Postol a few weeks ago, and Taylor is fighting Apinan Khongsong next week. If Pedraza doesn’t get that title shot next, he knows who he would fight as an alternative.

“If for some reason I can’t get a world title shot against them, I do want to respectfully ask Jose Zepeda for the rematch.”

Cover photo by Mikey Williams of Top Rank