Lightweight Joshua James Pagan has lofty hopes of facing Floyd Schofield soon, maybe even by the end of the year.
First, Pagan faces James Bernadin Friday at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York. The bout will stream on DAZN.
Pagan, 12-0 (4 KOs), isn’t lacking confidence going into his next fight, though he says he is not overlooking the 32-year-old Bernadin, 13-2-1 (6 KOs), of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He has hopes of bigger fights by the end of the year. When asked who he wanted to face, he wasn’t shy.
“I want to fight them all,” Pagan, 25, said on a conference call to promote the fight. “There are a few fighters that are on my radar, including Giovanni Marquez. He’s very talented, tough and durable. Floyd Schofield is another fighter I have on my radar.”
“Joshua and Floyd, I believe, is a great super-fight towards the end of the year,” Salita told BoxingScene. “Floyd is also a young guy, not a ton of experience, talented, but I believe that Joshua has discipline, and his dedication to learn the sport of boxing as a science is what's going to make him one of the best fighters in the world.”
Salita also noted that Pagan prepared Rolando Romero for Ryan Garcia for their fight in Times Square to start the month of May.
“By the way, he was in training camp for Rolly for Ryan Garcia,” Salita said. “He did the bulk of the work for that fight with Rolly, and many believe he's responsible for the upset.”
Pagan, a Puerto Rican fighter born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has spent his past few camps training in Puerto Rico in preparation for his bouts. Last October, Pagan even fought in Puerto Rico. Dmitriy Salita hopes to continue to make him accessible to Puerto Rican boxing fans.
“So, we're not quite in New York City in this fight, but we're in New York State,” Salita told BoxingScene “I do believe that for Josh to fight in New York and to connect to the Puerto Rican community will be meaningful and beneficial, and he's been invited to participate in some of the [Puerto Rican Day] parade activities.”