Former titleholder Luis Alberto Lopez wants to face WBO featherweight titleholder Rafael Espinoza.
Lopez picked up a first-round knockout of Eduardo Montoya in March. The win came after a brutal knockout loss to Angelo Leo in August.
Lopez, 31-3 (18 KOs), lost his IBF featherweight title in defeat. Lopez, a 31-year-old from Mexicali, Mexico, was looking to make his fourth title defense, but instead suffered a crushing defeat. When he was looking at the top names in featherweight and junior lightweight for fights, one name stuck out: WBO featherweight titleholder Rafael Espinoza.
“He called him out on Instagram, and he sent him a personal text message,” Hector Fernandez de Cordova, the co-manager of Lopez, told BoxingScene. “He said, ‘Hey bro, I respect you a lot, I look up to you, you are a great champ, but it is time for you to make a real defense, not the type of guys you have been fighting.”
He referenced Espinoza’s third title defense against Edward “Kid” Vazquez. Fernandez believes that Vazquez was not on the same level as Espinoza. It also goes back to the origin story of Lopez. He has excelled as the underdog. He defeated Gabriel Flores Jnr, Andy Vences, Cristian Baez, Josh Warrington, and Michael Conlan as the underdog. Fernandez believes that if the fight were to happen, it would bring back the old “Venado” Lopez.
“When ‘Venado’ is doubted, when no one thinks he can pull off the upset, is when ‘Venado’ does his best,” Fernandez said.
Espinoza, 27-0 (23 KOs), is a 31-year-old from Guadalajara, Mexico, notable for being a 6ft 3ins fighter who can make the 126lbs championship weight limit.
“I love the fight,” Fernandez said. “I think Espinoza is a great fighter, but he doesn’t know how to use his length. I think he is kind of frail, because Robeisy [Ramirez] already put him down once, and Robeisy is not the hardest puncher.”
After the loss to Leo, it was reported Lopez had a brain bleed. Fernandez explains the precautions the team has taken before and after his return to the ring to ensure Lopez’s safety.
“We did four or five tests before the last fight, and we have done three tests after this last fight,” Fernandez said. “As the doctor was explaining to us, the definition of a brain bleed was inaccurate. He said it was between the skull and the skin in the back of the skull at a 45-degree angle from the left ear.”
“[The doctor] said it is a head bleed, not a brain bleed,” Fernandez said. “He said it was acute and minor, and that was why they didn’t keep him in the hospital and try to do a drain or even surgery.”