Luis alberto lopez will defend his 126-pound TITLE against joet gonzlaez on friday IN TEXAS.
LUIS ALBERTO LOPEZ (28-2, 16 KOs)
VS. JOET GONZALEZ (26-3, 15 KOs)
- Date: Friday, Sept. 15
- Time: 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT (main event later in show)
- Where: American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, Texas
- TV/Stream: ESPN, ESPN+
- Division: Featherweight (126 pounds)
- At stake: Lopez’s IBF title
- Odds: Lopez 6-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)
- Pound-for-pound: None
- Also on the card: Xander Zayas vs. Roberto Valenzuela Jr., junior middleweights; Jamaine Ortiz vs. Antonio Moran, lightweights
- Prediction: Lopez UD
- Background: Lopez made a splash by outpointing Josh Warrington to take the Englishman’s title last December in Leeds and then proved it was no fluke by stopping veteran Michael Conlan in five rounds on May 27, his fourth knockout in his last five fights. The 30-year-old Mexican last lost in 2019, when Ruben Villa defeated him by a unanimous decision. He’s 11-0 since the setback, with eight KOs. Gonzalez is a slick, tough technician who has failed in two attempts to win a 126-pound world title, losing a one-sided decisions to Shakur Stevenson in 2019 and Emanuel Navarrete in 2021. The 29-year-old from Los Angeles is 2-1 since, including a split-decision loss to Isaac Dogboe in July of last year. He bounced back to easily outpoint Enrique Vivas on April 1.
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