Felix Verdejo (L) threads an uppercut against William Silva in February. Photo: Naoki Fukuda

Top Rank hopes to see an enhanced version of Felix Verdejo, the highly-regarded lightweight, in his upcoming fight with Juan Jose Martinez on June 11.

Verdejo’s rapid ascent has slowed of late as he coasted to victories against William Silva in February and Jose Luis Rodriguez on April 16. While Verdejo won wide decisions in both cases, because he didn’t necessarily shine in those fights, there have been whispers that Verdejo, viewed as the next-great fighter to come from Puerto Rico, may not be as good as advertised — or at least in a rut.

But Top Rank believes Verdejo (21-0, 14 knockouts) will be more focused and dynamic on June 11 against Martinez. Their bout is slated as an HBO co-feature alongside Vasyl Lomachenko’s junior lightweight title fight with Roman Martinez in Madison Square Garden’s Theater.

“We hope to see a better Verdejo than the last two fights,” Top Rank VP Carl Moretti told RingTV.com on Wednesday. “We believe we’ll see someone that’s more focused and mentally ready to shine on Puerto Rican Day weekend on June 11.”

Moretti believes it’s just a matter of Verdejo being more fixated and attentive to his opponent the night of the fight. The talent is there, he said, by virtue of his amateur background, when he reached the 2012 Olympics and lost to Vasyl Lomachenko in the quarterfinals in a bout Lomachenko has said was his toughest of his amateur career, according to Top Rank boss Bob Arum. A press conference is set for Thursday in Manhattan to formally announce the June 11 card.

“It’s clearly (a matter of being focused),” Moretti said. “We’ve seen it early on. You know he’s been there before because of his earlier fights as a pro and when you go as far as you do in the Olympics and you lost it to Lomachenko then obviously you’re locked in and you have talent, so it’s just a matter of doing the same thing at this level.”

Martinez was heartened by Verdejo’s last two efforts and believes he may be susceptible to an upset, Moretti said. “You see the last two fights and you say, ‘Okay, I’ll take a crack at it,'” Moretti said in describing Martinez’s mindset. “And it wasn’t about a negotiation it was about an opportunity.”

Moretti described the bout with Mexico’s Martinez (25-2, 17 KOs) as an increase in competition for the 22-year-old for Verdejo. Martinez fought five times last year, winning each one before losing a technical decision to Rey Bautista in Sept. of 2014. “It’s a step up because you have a guy who fought five times last year, which is busy for any pro, regardless of who he fought, has a good win over Emanuel Lopez so he’s clearly a guy who’s there (to win),” Moretti said.

Verdejo seemed in line to face Mexico’s Jose Felix Jr. (33-1-1, 25 KOs) on June 11, but Moretti said the fight was never agreed upon. Felix reportedly priced himself out of the match-up with Verdejo, forcing Top Rank to go in a different direction. “He was never in,” Moretti said. “Everybody keeps saying what happened to Felix? I don’t know how a fight falls apart when it’s never made. You have to make it first.”