By Miguel Rivera

Negotiations are ongoing for Felix 'Diamante' Verdejo's anticipated title fight, which if finalized will take place in the coming months.

Verdejo's promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, revealed that he is in talks with his counterpart Frank Warren to finalize a deal where the Puerto Rican pugilist will challenge Terry 'Turbo' Flanagan, the current World Boxing Organization (WBO) champion at lightweight.

"I've talked to Warren and we'll continue to talk," Arum said yesterday to Carlos Gonzalez from his office in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Verdejo occupies the top spot in the WBO lightweight division and, in turn, is Flanagan's mandatory challenger (33-0, 13 KO's).

Flanagan retained the title last month when he won a twelve round unanimous decision over Petr Petrov, who at the time was sitting in the number two position in the lightweight rankings.

"The fight will happen during the summer or at the latest September. It is what we are discussing," Flanagan said.

Arum also pointed out that Verdejo will move to Big Bear, California, to train under the tutelage of Abel Sánchez, the current head coach of the middleweight king Gennady Golovkin and several others. Ricky Marquez is still in place as the head trainer of Verdejo, Arum noted.

"It is necessary that Verdejo is in great physical condition to have a great performance. Ricky recognizes that it is important for Felix to train outside of Puerto Rico and that is what we will do," said Arum.

There is still no clear picture regarding the venue of the match.

"It's something we're still negotiating," Arum said.

In his last match, Verdejo (23-0, 15 KO) overcame Oliver Flores by a unanimous decision at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum. During that fight, Verdejo had a lot of trouble and struggled in the later rounds of the fight, and that caused concern for Marquez and Arum.