Beltran has has made at least three attempts to win the WBO lightweight title and in one of these fights he almost succeeded when he faced Ricky Burns in the UK but lost in a controversial judges’ split decision draw despite his eighth round knock down of Burns.
Beltran, who served as Manny Pacquiao’s sparring partner for many years said Saturday’s fight is very important for him and his team because a win will give him another opportunity to fight again for a world title.
Top Rank announced on Tuesday the Beltran-Maicelo fight on Saturday has been elevated to world title elimination bout. With this development, Beltran is getting closer to another major world title fight.
“We are ready for this fight. It is a very important fight for the whole team, because it will be the fight that will take us to the opportunity of battling for a world title,” Beltran said.
The 35-year-old orthodox fighter from Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico wants to give fans a good fight saying he looks forward to a convincing win.
“We are focused on winning. We are coming to fight and give a great show to all the fans. I don’t just want to win. I want to look good and win convincingly,” Beltran said. “Little by little I am making my dreams come true. I have battled a lot in my career. We have fulfilled many of our goals, like now that we are going to fight at Madison Square Garden. Being able to fight in a historical place, where all the greats have fought, is a dream come true,” he added.
Still, Beltran isn’t taking Maicelo lightly. He knows that the 33 year-old native of Callao, Peru is a durable fighter though he is coming off a unanimous decision loss against Darleys Perez in Jan. 2015.
Beltran (32-7-1, 20 KOs), who is two years older than Maicelo, stands 5’8″ with a reach of 72 ” While Maicelo (22-2-1, 12 KOs) is 2″ shorter at 5’7.”