IBF world featherweight world champion Luis Alberto Lopez (28-2, 16KOs) is set to make his second world title defence on September 15th and face Top Rank stablemate Joet Gonzalez (26-3, 15 KOs).
Mike Coppinger of ESPN reported the deal being agreed upon for Lopez to fight Gonzalez, with the contest set to be held at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas and will be broadcast on ESPN.
Lopez would claim the IBF crown against the odds, travelling to the hometown of Josh Warrington in dethroning the popular Leeds native in a narrow but deserved majority decision win. Lopez would make the first defence of his title in Belfast, Northern Ireland and produced a career-best performance securing a highlight reel fifth-round knockout of Michael Conlan.
Gonzalez has previously challenged for a version of a world title twice against Shakur Stevenson (2019) & Emanuel Navarrete (2021), respectively, losing to Stevenson by a significantly wide margin via a unanimous decision. Gonzalez was more competitive on his second attempt against Naverrete; however, he still lost via unanimous decision in a clear win for Naverrete.
The event headlined by Lopez-Gonzalez will mark the return of boxing to the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi for the first time since 2018 when Gilberto Ramirez defended his then WBO world super-middleweight world title against Jesse Hart in a thrilling encounter also promoted by Top Rank.
Gonzalez was last in action in April of this year following a split decision defeat to Isaac Dogbe in July. Joet would secure a ten-round points win over Enrique Vivas as part of the undercard to Robeisy Ramirez’s world title win over Isaac Dogboe to secure the WBO world featherweight world title.
