By Miguel Rivera

Alberto 'El Explosivo' Machado has received a lot of great news in the last week.

His firstborn, Oseías Machado Aponte arrived in the world last Tuesday during the eve of Hurricane Irma for Puerto Rico, and as if that were not enough on Saturday he also received the confirmation that he will soon fight for the title of the world - going for the 130 pound championship of the World Boxing Association.

Golden Boy Promotions and Miguel Cotto Promotions announced that Machado will officially challenge the current WBA super featherweight champion Jezreel Corrales on October 21 at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York, in a match that will be broadcast on HBO.

Machado is coming off his big win on August 18th in Ponce, when he capture the 130-pound title of NABA, the WBA's affiliate, when he defeated Mexico's Carlos Morales by unanimous decision. Afterwards, he wasted no time and left immediately for Los Angeles to start preparing for the important event.

"That was something that was being worked on at the table and the opportunity appeared," Machado said to Carlos Narvaez. "If I beat Carlos Morales, Golden Boy's matchmaker Roberto Diaz had said I would be a step closer to this opportunity and I finally received it."

For that fight, the Puerto Rican fighter with a career record of 18-0 and 15 KO's, moved his camp - for the first time in his career - to Los Angeles, California, where he worked with veteran trainer Freddie Roach and his assistant Marvin Somodio. On Monday he begin his second preparation at the Wild Card Gym.

"For every fight I'm resting for ten days, now (Sunday) we're on our way to Los Angeles to reintegrate, I'm going back there to be focused, there are a lot of distractions here and we need to evaluate Corrales and my last fight to continue adjusting," Machado said.

Corrales, a native of Panama and with a record of 22-1 and 8 KO's, won the WBA World Belt in 2016 after beating Takashi Ushiyama by knockout. Last July he defended his crown with a win at the Forum, in Inglewood, over Robinson Castellanos.

Meanwhile, Machado was very happy with the birth of his first son, Oseías.