By Allan Fox: In a sign that he could wind up as the likely opponent for either Adrien Broner or Lucas Matthysse, former world title challenger Josesito Lopez (32-6, 19 KO’s) says that he’ll be fighting on September 6th. The venue and the opponent still haven’t been revealed by Golden Boy Promotions, but Broner, Matthysse and Andre Berto have all said that they’ll be fighting on the same card.
Showtime vice president Stephen Espinoza ruled out Broner fighting Matthysse on the card. He says both guys will be in separate fights on the card. However, it’s not likely that Berto will be fighting Broner or Matthysse, because he’s coming off of a year-long layoff after having shoulder surgery.
Josesito Lopez said on his social media site, “September 6th, 2014. Mark your calender. Details to be announced.”
Lopez last fought in April in stopping Aaron Martinez in 5 rounds. In his fight before that, Lopez defeated Mike Arnaoutis by an 8 round technical decision last December in a fight where Lopez mostly dominated the action. Arnaoutis still gave him a very tough fight before the fight was halted due to a cut that Arnaoutis had suffered.
Lopez pulled off a huge career-defining upset over Victor Ortiz in 2012 when he stopped in the 9th after breaking his jaw in two places. The victory got Lopez fights against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Marcos Maidana, but he was halted in both fights. Lopez gave Maidana big problems for 5 rounds until Maidana came out in the 6th throwing heavy leather and quickly mowed Lopez down.
Lopez moved up from light welterweight to take on Canelo at junior middleweight in September 2012, but he was knocked down three times en route to losing a 5th round knockout. Lopez put weight on to fight Canelo at 154, but Lopez looked fat for the weight class, and not the same fighter he was when he was fighting at 140.
If matched against Broner, Lopez could give him some problems, and show whether Broner belongs at 140 or not. If Broner can’t conclusively beat Lopez, then he doesn’t belong in the 140 pound division.
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