By Norm Frauenheim-
A blueprint of the next great fighter would look a lot like Felix Verdejo. Fast hands, agile feet, power and a long, lanky body that will easily grow into bigger weight classes and multi-division titles.
But there’s more.
“The it factor,’’ Top Rank President Todd duBoef says.
Assign whatever value you want to it. The intangible usually means charisma, which can’t be found on any tale of the tape. In this era of analytic-engineered major-league baseball rosters and NBA teams, an element without a reliable measurement might mean it can fool you just as surely as a fragile chin.
In Verdejo, however, it looks real. Feels real, so real that the young Puerto Rican moves into the next step of a process that Top Rank believes is bound for stardom.
Sometime in 2016, Verdejo hopes to fight for a world-title belt that is a symbol of a fighter moving on from prospect to world class.
“I don’t have a specific opponent in mind… I just want to fight for a championship,’’ Verdejo (19-0, 14 KOs) said Thursday through a translator during a conference call for his first appearance in the New Year on a HBO-televised card Feb. 27 against William Silva (23-0, 14 KOs) in The Theater at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Verdejo’s fight against Silva on the undercard of Terence Crawford-Hank Lundy is intriguing on several levels. Silva was an accomplished amateur and, like Verdejo, is unbeaten as a pro.
The Brazilian lightweight is also listed at 6 feet 1, which makes him the tallest foe Verdejo has faced since turning pro after the 2012 Olympics. More important, perhaps, it represents a further test of Verdejo’s left hand. He was sidelined for six months last year after undergoing surgery to have bone spurs removed.
There were no problems with the left in a mid-December wipeout of Josenilson Dos Santos in Puerto Rico. Then again, Verdejo didn’t really have to use the left. He landed a perfect right that resulted in a second-round stoppage.
“Everything, thanks to God, is fine with the hand,’’ he said Thursday.
Confidence that he’ll succeed against Silva is enough for Top Rank to think about the rest of 2016. He’s already scheduled for a bout on April 16, probably in Puerto Rico where he’s close with his mentor and hero, Felix Trinidad.
Trinidad, Verdejo says, “teaches me how to act inside and outside of the ring.’’
Depending on the champions and their willingness to fight him, duBoef estimates Verdejo might get a title shot in six to 10 months.
For now, the WBO lightweight title is the preferred target. The UK’s Terry Flanagan holds the belt sanctioned by an acronym based in Puerto Rico. Flanagan, ranked No. 5 by The Ring, is scheduled for a title defense against Derry Mathews on March 13 in Liverpool. The bout has already been postponed twice, first in December and then a few weeks ago. First Flanagan said he needed more time off. Then, he said suffered an injury to his left foot.
Somehow and at some point, a shot at a major belt will be there for the emerging Verdejo. Against Silva, he is making his sixth appearance in New York. He’s already popular in New York’s huge Puerto Rican community, which is looking for a star to succeed Miguel Cotto as a centerpiece to its Puerto Rican Day celebration in June.
“Fans in New York should look forward to seeing me fight for a long time,’’ said Verdejo, whose it factor also means he knows how to talk to the customers.
