Gomez: I’ve fought better opposition than Ed Paredes

Of course that doesn't necessarily mean that Alfonso Gomez (23-6-2, 12 KOs) will just steamroll Ed Paredes (35-3-1, 23 KOs), but the two will collide when they meet up as the Fox Sports 1/Fox Deportes "Golden Boy Live!" series returns to Las Vegas. Gomez does make an interesting point though. He's taken on the likes of Arturo Gatti, Miguel Cotto, and more recently, Canelo Alvarez and Shawn Porter, with all but the Gatti fight resulting in a loss for Gomez.

"I've beaten Castillo, Arturo Gatti, and I beat Peter Monfredo and fought Ishe Smith before he became a world champion. I have a long list of fighters who are actually a lot better than him," said Gomez of Paredes, 29, who was last in the ring for a second round stoppage of George Sosa in March.

"I've fought at least a dozen or so guys who were world champions either in the past or the future, and my last two fights were against two guys who are among the best right now. Shawn Porter's a hot ticket right now, and Canelo's a hot ticket right now. Miguel Cotto is a hot ticket right now."

Alfonso also went on to provide some excuses, I mean, "reasons", as to why he hasn't faired so well in his most recent outings:

"Going into the Shawn Porter fight, I had some issues with injuries to my elbows and stuff like that, and that didn't allow me to prepare fully for the fight. He was able to beat me by, but only by, like, one or two points on one of the scorecards. Not being well-prepared, and coming that close to beating him, that makes me realize that I'm capable of so much more," said Gomez, who was knocked out in the sixth round by Alvarez in September 2011 before falling to Porter.

"In the past, I didn't understand what experience was all about and how to use that experience, but I've been able to use that experience in my sparring leading up to this fight against other boxers. I'm not bothered with all of the past injuries. I'm more mature, mentally, and, physically. I believe that these almost two years off have actually helped me out. So I think that I'm better than the guy who fought Alvarez and the guy who fought Porter. I believe that this is the fight where I show that these two years have helped me to take charge of my career."

I'll have to admit, I had to do a bit of research to get properly acquainted with Ed Paredes' resume, but the only two recognizable names seem to be a TKO win over a faded Vivian Harris a couple years back and a decision loss to Carlos Molina in 2009.

Whether this all means that Gomez has the top-flight experience edge that he can take with him into the ring, or if all that accumulated punishment from upper-echelon fighters, combined with a near 2-year layoff, has simply left him shopworn remains to be seen. Paredes though, by all accounts, shouldn't offer him anything he hasn't seen before.