By Jason Kim: If featherweights Yuriorkis Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez want an opponent for their next fight, they have to look no further than unbeaten World Boxing Association featherweight champion Chris John (43-0-2, 22 KO’s).

In an article with theJartaglobe, John, 30, had this to say about the prospects of fighting Gamboa or Lopez:

“I think we’ll jump on it if the offer comes. I’ll be ready to fight either one of them. But my coach and manager has yet to hear from then until today.” John is planning on fighting in April against a still to be determined opponent. Either Gamboa or Lopez would be perfect for John, who has held the WBA featherweight title down for the past seven years. During that time, John has had some close calls with two draws against Jose Rojas and Rocky Juarez, including a controversial 12 round decision over Juan Manuel Marquez in 2006. Many boxing fans felt that Marquez dominated John in that fight and should have won it easily. The fight was held in John’s native Indonesia.

John should have no problems getting a match against either or both Gamboa and Lopez. Their promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank says that he wants those two to clear out the featherweight division before matching them up against each other. John, being the WBA featherweight champion, is one of the fighters that are standing in the way of Gamboa and Lopez from reaching their future mega fight. John is a good fighter, but he’s still not all that well known in the U.S. despite having fought there twice in 2009 against Rocky Juarez. Both fighters were close with the first bout ending in a 12 round draw and the second fight having John win a 12 round decision.

Lopez (28-0, 25 KO’s) stopped WBO featherweight champion Steven Luevano in the 7th round last Saturday night at Madison’s Square Garden. Lopez dominated all seven rounds and dropped Luevano to the canvas with a hard left hand after hurting him initially with a big right uppercut moments earlier.

Lopez looked sensational all the way through the one-sided fight and made up for his unimpressive performance against Rogers Mtagwa three months earlier in October. On the same card, World Boxing Association featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa (17-0, 15 KO’s) destroyed Mtagwa in two rounds, knocking him down three times in the process of getting the win.

Gamboa looked too powerful and fast for Mtagwa all the way through the fight. With John having one of the titles, he’s someone that Lopez or Gamboa will likely be targeting next. John, a light hitter, would have serious problems with the speedy and powerful Gamboa. John was hurt badly in the 12th round of his last fight against Juarez, and it’s hard to see him being able to make it more than three or four rounds against a powerful puncher like Gamboa.

Lopez would be a better match for John, but only slightly. Lopez punches well himself and has a high work rate. John would be hard pressed to make it out of that fight without being destroyed by Lopez.