Rau'shee Warren hopes to exact revenge on Juan Carlos Payano in title fight rematch

It's officially the NBC co-feature on Saturday, but it's undoubtedly the fight fans are most excited to see.

After all, the first bout between Juan Carlos Payano and Rau'shee Warren was a savage, foul-filled affair that could have went either way on the scorecards, but Payano retained his bantamweight title via majority decision.

Warren, who represented USA in the Olympics three times but never medaled, was anxious to rematch Payano right away, but he's had to wait. And wait some more. Finally, more than 10 months later (with no interim bouts) they'll do it again. And the bout, set for UIC Pavilion in Chicago, is close to a pick 'em affair, with Warren a slight favorite, according to Sportsbook Review.

"Everybody's been patiently waiting for this rematch," Warren, 29, told Paste BN Sports. "I'm going to show them why I should have deserved to be the champion and why he shouldn't be the champion. I'm going to expose him."

The Cincinnati native said he instructed advisor Al Haymon to only secure Payano for his next bout. "If anybody else want to fight me, I'm not looking to fight them, he the one I want," Warren recalled of his conversation with Haymon.

Warren (13-1, 4 KOs) took two weeks off from boxing activity and then got right to work. He said he immediately began to spar southpaws and worked on the things he believed would make the rematch easier.

He watched tape of the first bout "20 to 30 times" and found plenty of stuff he did wrong.

"I'm coming in there to go to war again," Warren said. "It's going to be more clean this fight. I just feel like the ref has to watch for rabbit punches that he does rather than just me. He was doing a lot of pushing in the early rounds and falling down like he was hurt, like he wanted to get out of the fight.

"It was kind or irritating because I'm like 'hold on, you're the world champion, you're supposed to be ready for anything that comes your way.' So I see his weakness. He thought I would be the type of fighter just jabbing around. I had to come towards him and bring the fight to him."

Payano (17-0, 8 KOs) won the title with a technical decision over Anselmo Moreno and put the belt on the line for the first time vs. Warren. The 32-year-old was also an accomplished amateur and represented the Dominican Republic twice in the Olympics.

The 118-pound Warren said he plans to use his speed and footwork more this time around. But feels he was slighted by the judges during their last encounter and wants to ensure it doesn't happen again.

"That's the plan, to come in there and not leave it to the judges." he said. "I felt his power, he felt my power. I didn't get dazed or fall. He fell, wobbled, grabbed, did everything to get out of the way of my power shots.

"And I've had almost a year to get prepared for him. So I feel like I've got even stronger. So I'm really coming his way and I hope he can take these shots. I'm throwing knockout punches."

(Photo of Warren by Nabeel Ahmad/Premier Boxing Champions)