By Ryan Burton

Boxingscene.com recently caught up with WBA featherweight champion Celestino "Pelenchin" Caballero. The fighter of Panamanian descent is training for his upcoming title defense against Satoshi Hosono that takes place on his opponent's home turf in Japan on New Year's Eve.

For years, Caballero has unsuccessfully campaigned for fights against featherweight rivals Yuriorkis Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez. Gamboa is planning to move up to lightweight to face Brandon Rios in his next fight while Lopez is looking to avenge the only loss of his career with a rematch against Orlando Salido.  

With those fighters next bouts already booked, Caballero will again be on the outside looking in. 

The lanky featherweight titlist is resigned to the reality that neither will fight him any time soon and is already mapping out his immediate future. If everything goes as planned against Hosono, the next logical step would be to pursue a showdown with WBA super champion Chris John.

"First I need to beat Hosono. God willing, I will defeat him then I would like to fight Chris John," said Caballero, who believes that Gamboa is making a mistake by moving up in weight to face Rios. 

Caballero sees the Cuban’s desired move in weight as financially motivated and believes he will regret that decision the moment Rios begins to land, if and when they fight next year.

"Gamboa has a glass jaw. He will get knocked out. There is no way that he beats Rios. He is just looking for a big payday," insists Caballero.

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