By Jose Antonio Soriano

At the start of the year, boxer Isao Carranza (15-7, 9 KOs) has accepted a very tough assignment when he takes on former IBO/WBA bantamweight champion Juan Carlos Payano (17-1, 8 KOs) on January 13th at the Hialeah Park Racing & Casino in Hialeah, Florida.

The event will be headlined by a Premier Boxing Champions televised contest where WBA/IBO junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara will make a voluntary defense against former champion Yuri Foreman.

For Payano, the fight will be his first since suffering his first career defeat, and losing his world titles, in his June rematch with Rau'Shee Warren.

Carranza is a huge underdog in the fight and is coming off a decision loss to Alejandro Hernandez.

"We've been training with everything for four weeks now," said Carranza. "We're going to have a good fight. He was undefeated, losing to Rau'shee Warren and the WBA world super bantamweight title, bu he's still a dangerous fighter."

Carranza said he expects a difficult fight, given that the talented Dominican boxer suffered a loss in his last match and his sole focus will be to make a statement in order to get back on a winning path.

"[Payano] is a boxer who had more than four hundred fights as an amateur. He was at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and champion of the World Boxing Association," Carranza.

"We are working to try to contain his most dangerous attacks. I know we are going against everything - from the promoter, his people, judges, everything, but if we do things right then we will achieve a great victory."

Starting the year with a victory is something that Carranza longs for - "it's my first fight abroad, and what better place than the United States... it's a great place for boxing all over the world and if I win I'll have more opportunities."