By Ryan Maquiñana

Welterweight prospect Alan Sanchez learned a valuable lesson from Luis Collazo in his last outing in September, a wide decision loss on Fox Sports 1.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have taken that fight,” Sanchez told BoxingScene.com on Thursday. “He had a lot of experience, and it showed. But I found out that I need to have a harder training camp to get better. I need to be more focused.”

Sanchez (12-3-1, 6 KOs), from Fairfield, Calif., returns to the same network tonight (10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT/7 p.m. PT), as he meets veteran Jorge Silva with a new resolve.

“I moved my camp from Fairfield to San Diego, and I feel pretty good,” Sanchez said. “I feel stronger. I was focused. No distractions. Also, I don’t spar with the same guys anymore. To reach another level, I have to spar more top guys with different styles.

“This time I sparred with I sparred with Mercito Gesta and Josesito Lopez, (Antonio) Orozco, too.”

He also made an adjustment to his corner. Longtime Northern California trainer Jesse Lopez is out, and Jorge Padilla is in.

“I train with Jorge now,” Sanchez added. “He worked in my corner before.”

Sanchez possesses solid power, with a left hook the bread-and-butter choice in his arsenal. Although he would rather apply pressure on his opponents, he can land the left hook off the counter as well. This time, he encounters the type of foe in Silva (20-5-2, 16 KOs) that he would prefer to face: a brawler who will engage him in the center of the ring.

“I saw him fight before in Sacramento (a draw with Yoshihiro Kamegai),” Sanchez said. “He’s a tough guy. He likes to fight, and he likes to come forward, but he also comes to win so I gotta be careful.”

Silva, from Tijuana, Mexico, has lost three of four, including a seventh-round stoppage defeat to Silverio Ortiz in November, but has taken Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo the 10-round distance and many observers thought he did enough to beat Kamegai on the cards. Sanchez believes his improved conditioning will be the key.

“I think he’s going to get tired around the sixth round,” Sanchez said. “I’ve seen that in the fights I’ve watched. He lost his last fight in the seventh round. I won’t get tired. I think I can take advantage.”

The significance of an impressive victory on national television isn’t lost on Sanchez, who has appeared on TeleFutura several times and once ambushed Artemio Reyes on ESPN2 in a one-round surprising stoppage in 2012. The 23-year-old hopes to make a similar impression with boxing fans tonight.

“This fight can open some doors for me,” he said. “They’re going to see what kind of fighter I am. I don’t take any easy fight and I hope to get another chance to keep moving up.”

Ryan Maquiñana was the boxing producer for NBCOlympics.com during London 2012 and writes a boxing column for CSNBayArea.com.  He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and Ring Magazine's Ratings Panel. E-mail him at rmaquinana@gmail.com, check out his blog at Norcalboxing.com or follow him on Twitter@RMaq28.