By Omar Feliciano: Juan Manuel Lopez (27-0, 24 KOs) looks to make Steve Luveano (37-1, 15 KOs) his next victim on Saturday, January 23rd at Madison Square Garden. Fighting four pounds north of his previous 17 bouts, Lopez will challenge Luevano for his WBO Featherweight Title. This move to the featherweight division should be no surprise to many for a number of reasons.

He has spent quite some time at 122 lbs. and is ready for new challenges, bigger paydays against the more popular and stronger opponents, and above all, it seems that Lopez’s body is fighting against him at 122 lbs. He may no longer be capable of making 122 lbs. easily. The average person can argue that 4 pounds is no huge difference, but in boxing, it is.

We were witnesses to this in his last bout on October 10, 2009 against Rogers Mtgawa (26-13-2, 18 KO’s). Mtgawa was determined to make it a tough fight, and he did, going the distance and nearly taking out Lopez early in the 12th round. The difficulties posed to Lopez on that night by his opponent were unknown before he stepped into the ring, but his featherweight debut should go a bit more smoothly. Luevano is clearly no pushover, a good boxer but not a big puncher. Look for Lopez to box the early rounds and to finish him when he sees the opportunity in the mid-to late rounds.

The featherweight division has some quality fighters in undefeated champion

Chris John (43-0-2), Rocky Juarez (28-5, 20 KOs), Elio Rojas (21-1, 13 KOs) and of course Yuriorkis Gamboa (16-0, 14 KOs); who is lurking behind Lopez for a future bout down the road. This seems to be the fight most want Lopez to take in the very near future, however, Gamboa needs to build his resume. We all know he has heavy hands but his lack of ring experience doesn’t merit a shot at a title so soon. I believe it can be an action packed fight with a questionable outcome but just not yet. “Juanma” has obstacles to overcome in order to make his mark in the featherweight division, should he get past Luevano on Saturday night.

Juan Manuel Lopez has Puerto Rico’s full attention right now and super stardom is on the horizon. With the plethora of great champions coming from this small island such as Wilfred Benitez, Wilfredo Gomez, Felix Trinidad and presently Miguel Cotto and Ivan Calderon, the worthy heir to the boxing throne of Puerto Rico is none other than Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez.