By Jake Donovan

Fresh off of his highlight reel 8th round knockout of fringe contender Jesus Pabon last Friday, plans are already in place for unbeaten 140 lb. contender Joan Guzman to return to the ring.

Most of the elements surrounding his next fight – such as venue, city, opponent and network – are all ‘TBA’ at the moment. What is known is that the former two-division champion will glove ‘em up on May 18, with the hopes that it will be a fight leading to a shot at a third title.

“We want to keep the momentum going with Guzman and keep him as active as possible,” said Jose Nunez, Guzman’s manager. “He had a great training camp coming from his fight in November straight to March, so now we’re doing the same thing, making sure he remains focused.”

Assuming the May 18 date comes off, it will mark the third fight in a span of six months for Guzman (32-0-1, 19KO), which would serve as his greatest rate of activity in more than a decade. Inactivity and horrors at the scales have plagued his career and squandered much of his natural talent, though he appears to have turned a corner.

Guzman returned to the ring last November with a first round stoppage of Florencio Castellano, who put up no resistance in a fight that served as Guzman’s Dominican homecoming. Pabon attempted to make a fight of it last weekend, forcing Guzman to step it up in leading to the eye-catching finish.

His handlers are looking to progress on the level of competition, as the goal is put their fighter back in the title picture.

“We’ve gone over some names already and will begin the search for a suitable opponent,” informed Nunez. “We’re looking at either ESPN2 again or maybe a small pay-per-view show. We just want to keep him busy and move him in the right direction.”

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter: @JakeNDaBox or submit questions/comments to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.

Tags: Joan Guzman