Richard Commey and Jose Pedraza are close in age, both coming off losses to former champions and at similar stages in their careers.

Each of these former lightweight champions clearly need a win in a prototypical crossroads fight Saturday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Pedraza at least has grown accustomed over the past three years to fighting at or near the junior welterweight limit of 140 pounds, whereas Commey will make his debut in that division after campaigning as a lightweight throughout his 11-year pro career.

For Ghana’s Commey (30-4, 27 KOs), moving up five pounds for a 10-round main event ESPN will televise was more about opportunity than necessity. The former IBF lightweight champion realizes that defeating Pedraza (29-4, 14 KOs) will establish him as a legitimate contender in a new weight class eight months after Vasiliy Lomachenko (16-2, 11 KOs) decisively defeated him in their 12-round lightweight bout at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“I think it’s gonna open doors for me, get me opportunities and let people know that Richard Commey is not done,” Commey told BoxingScene.com. “He has still got a lot to offer. And it will put me into the mix at 140.”

Jose Ramirez (27-1, 17 KOs), a former WBC/WBO 140-pound champion, out-pointed Pedraza in the Puerto Rican veteran’s most recent appearance. Pedraza lost that 12-rounder by the same score, 116-112, on all three cards March 4 at Save Mart Center in Fresno, California.

The unremarkable nature of Pedraza’s performance against Ramirez hasn’t tricked Commey into thinking Pedraza is finished as a championship-caliber boxer. Pedraza has bounced back in recent years from points losses to Lomachenko and Jose Zepeda with impressive performances in his following fights.

“I don’t expect it to be an easy fight,” Commey said. “That’s why I’ve been working hard in the gym. I expect it to be a good fight. He’s very complicated. He’s a two-time world champion. He’s a seasoned boxer. He’s not just any boxer. He’s an experienced boxer. He can fight. And he comes to fight.”

Pedraza paid for his passive approach to the Ramirez bout, in which he told BoxingScene.com that he was entirely too focused on defense. The 33-year-old Pedraza intends to take this fight to Commey.

The 35-year-old Commey has been one of the lightweight division’s hardest punchers in recent years, but Gervonta Davis (27-0, 25 KOs) is the only opponent who has knocked out Pedraza.

“We’ll see on the night,” Commey said. “Every man has a plan, just like Mike Tyson said. He can say whatever he wanna say. But until you get a punch in your face, you don’t know what will happen. Sometimes, we all have got a plan. But then, on the night, things change slightly, and we need to adjust to it and then make the best out of it.”

Caesars Sportsbook lists Pedraza as a 3-1 favorite versus Commey in a fight that’ll headline ESPN’s three-bout broadcast from Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Heavyweight prospect Jared Anderson (11-0, 11 KOs), of Toledo, Ohio, is scheduled to battle Serbia’s Miljan Rovcanin (24-2, 16 KOs) in the eight-round co-feature of a telecast that’ll start at 10:30 p.m. ET.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.