By Jake Donovan

Carlos Cuadras puts his 115 lb. title on the line for the fourth time when returns to the ring August 8 in Mexico. An opponent has yet to be determined, but the bout will likely serve as a voluntary defense before moving towards an eventual mandatory title defense.

Several opponents are being considered for the August 8 optional defense, including one in particular who—through his team—took the time to call out Cuadras. Unbeaten contender Ivan Morales was declared eligible for a title fight by older brother and former four-division champion Erik Morales, in a recent interview with ESPN Radio.

“We were offered the world title bout against Carlos Cuadras by (Golden Boy Promotions),” Morales claimed in the interview on Monday. “We said ‘Yes’ so Golden Boy Promotions is going to make a formal proposal to Carlos Cuadras’ team.”

The declaration came as a surprise to and with a chuckle from Cuadras’ team.

“It’s funny, the fight has been on the table for a while. In fact, we’ve offered the fight to Erik two times,” Oswaldo Küchle of Promociones del Pueblo, Cuadras’ promoter, told krikya360.com. “Both times he was very clear in saying (Ivan) is not ready.”

Either Team Morales has since had a change of hear, or are looking to generate headlines for the unbeaten junior bantamweight contender, whose stateside fights take place under the Golden Boy Promotions banner.

A title fight involving the younger Morales would make for an interesting storyline from a historical perspective. A title fight win by the 23-year old from Tijuana would mark just the second time in boxing history that a trio of fighting brothers have captured a major belt in the pro ranks, joining the Kameda family who turned the feat in 2013. Erik Morales’ incredible career has included title wins at junior featherweight, featherweight, junior lightweight and junior welterweight. Middle brother Diego Morales briefly held a junior bantamweight title towards the end of the 20th Century.

Of course, the younger Morales still has to get to the title stage. His development has been slow but has kept active since turning pro in Dec. ’09. His last fight came in May, scoring a knockout win on the undercard of a sold-out event in Inglewood, California on hand to watch Gennady Golovkin’s latest knockout win over Willie Monroe as well as the HBO-televised debut of World flyweight king Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez.

The latest win ran Morales’ record to 28-0 (16KOs). Whether or not it put him in line for a title shot is wide open to debate. However, one awaits him if he so wishes.

“We are still searching for an opponent. If (Morales) wants it, he can have the chance on August 8,” Küchle offers.

Should Cuadras win in August—be it versus Morales or whomever he faces—his next fight will likely be a rematch with Thailand’s Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, his current mandatory challenger. Cuadras’ title reign began with a win over Sor Rungvisai last May, having since defended three times, including a 12-round win over former flyweight titlist Luis Concepcion in April.

Sor Rungvisai has won seven in a row since losing his title. His most recent win came in late May, scoring a 4th round knockout of Jose Salgado—who fought to a No-Decision with Cuadras in the defending champion’s first title defense last September—to become the mandatory contender.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox