This Friday night Cleotis “Mookie” Pendarvis will face off against the unbeaten Dierry Jean in Miami, OK. Pendarvis brings in a record of 17-3-2 with 6 KOs to his credit. He has had almost five months without a fight, and this one was the first that was offered up to him. But during that time he certainly hasn’t been sitting around inactive.

“I’ve been working out and training, trying to stay in touch and stay ready,” he said. “I always have to do what’s right for the boxing game; this business that I’m in. Camp has been going really well, now I’m just toning down. My sparring partners have definitely been giving me the work that I need, and it’s all been great.”

This fight is an important one, as it is for the number one position for the IBF light welterweight world title.

His opponent Jean was born in Haiti and resides in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

“I’ve watched him a little bit, and he’s a pretty well-conditioned fighter, but as far as skill wise I just don’t believe Dierry Jean’s better,” he said. “He’s 24 and 0 with 16 knockouts, but most of his fights have been in Canada. He’s never really fought anybody of my caliber.

“I’m confident in what I can do, it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side of the ring. Once I’m ready it’s a chess game and the best man will win.”

Fighters don’t like to look past an opponent, and Pendarvis is no different and is not taking Jean lightly. But there is one man that he has on his radar and would like to face – Lamont Peterson.

“He’s the IBF title holder, so that’s who I want.”

If “Mookie” had his way he would like to fight six times this year, but being that it is already May, that might be a bit unrealistic. But as he said, he stays ready for anything that might come his way, and that means physically as well as mentally.

“This is a professional business, so it should never be hard mentally to stay prepared along with physically. When you’re in the game such as the professional boxing business you definitely have to stay prepared.”

Pendarvis feels that he is ready for what good things lay ahead for him and he is looking forward to this fight. He is particularly happy that the fight will be televised on SHOWTIME.

“I’m going out there to put on the best performance,” he said. “and show the people why I have been under the radar for such a long time. But now it’s my time to show my talent to the world. Most people know me in the game already, but at the same time they never were able to see me live in action. This is the beautiful part; I’m live in action, I get to show my skills, and I get to show it against a quality fighter.

“I just want to give a shout out to everybody who follows Cleotis Pendarvis and follows my career and believes in me. I definitely want to shout out to Warren Wilkerson my manager, Rachel Charles my publicist, Pitch INK, Pit Bull Promotions, and the whole Pit Bull team. I just want to say thanks to everybody and I’m working hard, and I definitely will come back with that W.”

It is always nice to talk with this young man and I want to wish him good luck in his fight.