By Manouk Akopyan

Alex Saucedo is ready to return to the ring nearly one year after his first career loss. 

Saucedo (28-1, 18 KOs) will take on Rod Salka (24-5, 4 KOs) in an eight-round fight on Nov. 2, Saucedo’s manager Sam Katkovski told BoxingScene.com. It will be a co-featured attraction for WBC junior lightweight champion Miguel Berchelt’s fight against Jason Sosa at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif. The Athletic’s Mike Coppinger was first to report of the development.

Saucedo, a 25-year-old from Oklahoma, was having a stellar 2018 until he met Maurice Hooker for the WBO lightweight title in a hometown fight. Although Saucedo knocked down Hooker in the second round of their showdown, he was stopped via TKO in the seventh stanza in the all-action affair.

Hooker, in turn, has since lost the WBO crown to Jose Ramirez this June. Prior to the Hooker fight, Saucedo had stopped Leonardo Zappavigna and Abner Lopez in a three-month span last year.

The soft-hitting Salka lost to Francisco Vargas in April. At the time, he was riding a five-fight winning streak since suffering a devastating knockout against Danny Garcia in 2014.

Manouk Akopyan has been a member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011 and has written for the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the Guardian and Philadelphia Inquirer. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk.akopyan@gmail.com.