Matchroom and DAZN will finally put on the first title defense of WBA, IBF, and WBO lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez after numerous delays, site changes, and in the end a promoter and network swap.
Lopez has been inactive since his upset victory over Vasyl Lomachenko thirteen months ago, due to promotional issues, purse bids, Covid, and the winner of the purse bid eventually defaulting and giving the fight to Matchroom/DAZN.
Lopez's IBF mandatory challenger is Australian George Kambosos, who has only two notable wins- both split decisions over light-hitting former champions Mickey Bey and Lee Selby with both on the backside of their careers.
Kambosos is a pressure fighter with just average power, so on the surface, Kambosos seems to be perfect for Lopez- a fighter that can't hurt Lopez but yet has to come to the champion.
Eddie Hearn has stated (without verification from Lopez or his usual promoter Top Rank) that Lopez would face WBC champion Devin Haney (promoted by Hearn) next with a win over Kambosos while Top Rank seems to prefer Lopez move to 140 pounds and a shot at unified world champion Josh Taylor.
The co-feature will fill the IBF junior lightweight title vacated by Joseph Diaz when he missed weight earlier this year before his draw with Shakat Rakhimov.
Fuzile was stopped in his only loss to Rakhimov in 2019 but rebounded with an upset win over England's Martin Ward.
Ogawa is remembered for winning this very title in 2017 via a split decision over Tevin Farmer only to drop it after failing post-fight drug tests.
Showtime's three-fight card features a main event that could have an equal amount of impact on boxing in 2022 with a title unification at junior featherweight that will leave the division with two champions each holding two titles.
WBC champion Brandon Figueroa will meet WBO champion Stephen Fulton in Las Vegas in a fight that pits the classic aggressive stalker against the smooth boxer.
Both men won their titles in their last fight, Figueroa knocking out Luis Nery in seven and Fulton easily decisioning Angelo Leo, so experience shouldn't come into play.
Figueroa's win over Nery, who at one time was top ten P4P, was a bigger win than Fulton's over Leo as both were undefeated prospect types but I have a feeling that Fulton could be sitting on a big effort.
The other fights on the card include Ra'eese Aleem, who will likely land a shot at the winner of Figueroa-Fulton against Eduardo Baez, and undefeated bantamweight Gary Antonio Russell against veteran Alejandro Santiago.
In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 154-136.
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