By Ryan Burton

Teofimo Lopez (11-0) has big plans for 2019. The highly touted prospect turned contender first takes on former two time title challenger Diego Magdaleno (31-2) Saturday night in Frisco, Texas.  The fight will open up an ESPN+ card that is headlined by the Eleider Alvarez-Sergey Kovalev light heavyweight rematch.

Earlier in the evening Richard Commey and Isa Chaniev will battle for the vacant IBF lightweight title on ESPN.  The plan is for the winner to face WBA/WBO champion Vasiliy Lomachenko later this year.

That would leave one lightweight title open, the WBC title, that is currently held by Mikey Garcia who faces Errol Spence in March in a welterweight bout.

It is very likely that Garcia will campaign at 140 pounds after the Spence fight which would leave the WBC lightweight title vacant.  Lopez said that he is very interested in fighting for the green belt.

"We talked to Bob Arum talked about it and that definitely could be a possibility. I think that he definitely sees it. As long as we keep doing what we are doing it can happen," Lopez recently told BoxingScene.com.

If he emerges from the Magdaleno fight victorious and unscathed the plan is for him to return on April 20th on the Terence Crawford-Amikr Khan pay-per-view undercard. If he does well in that fight a certain former two-division champion could in his future.

"I know that me and (Jose) Pedraza are fighting sometime down the line this year. That's a fight that is going to happen. I don't know if it is going to be during the Puerto Rican parade (in June) or December or whatever they got in mind. We can fight for the WBC title right there if its vacant," Lopez explained.

"It would be huge. It will be the main event and will sellout the whole arena because it will be a great fight. I have family there in New York. I have Brooklyn to support me and he has all the Puerto Ricans. It will be a fight that everyone wants to see. So when it is all said and done as long as we keep doing what we are doing - February 2nd is when it starts - we will start dropping them like dominoes."

Send questions or comments to ringsidewriter@gmail.com You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ringsidewriter