By Jake Donovan

There is still a lot of work to be done by Top Rank and Zanfer Box in putting together a September 26 independent Pay-Per-View card live from Mexico City. So far, at least one key player will not participate, although both sides suspected it would be the case.

Román Gonzalez was floated as a potential candidate for the show, with Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum angling for the World flyweight champion to face former two-division titlist Brian Viloria. It’s a fight that has been suggested in the past, but one in which Top Rank—or at least Arum—never expressed serious interest until the idea of staging its own PPV show.

The milk seems to have gone stale on that idea, as Gonzalez is far more interested in continuing his recently formed relationship with HBO. The undefeated top-shelf talent from Nicaragua made his network debut in May, knocking out Edgar Sosa inside of two rounds on a show topped by unbeaten middleweight titlist Gennady Golovkin racking up his 20th consecutive knockout win.

The preference for the reigning flyweight king—recognized by many as high among the world’s best fighters in any weight class— is to return to its airwaves for his next fight, ideally in the United States.

“Honestly, I prefer to fight in America. I really don’t want to fight in Mexico,” Gonzalez told El Nuevo Diario in Nicaragua, where he was being honored at home by the World Boxing Council, along with unbeaten 115 lb. titlist Carlos Cauadras. “I am  very happy with HBO.”

An ideal scenario for Gonzalez would be to fight in HBO in September and then perhaps set his sights on unbeaten 115 lb. titlist Naoya Inoue later this year. Such a fight would put the 28-year old in line to win a fourth title in as many weight classes, having previously enjoyed title reigns at strawweight and junior flyweight prior to claiming the lineal flyweight championship.

As for the rest of the planned September 26 PPV, finalizing the lineup requires a lot of wait-and-see. Tentative plans call for unbeaten super middleweight Gilberto Ramirez—fresh off of a 10-round win over Derek Edwards last month in Texas—to appear in a stay busy bout against an opponent to be determined. Unbeaten lightweight Jose Zepeda has been tabbed to also appear, pending the outcome of his vacant title fight with Terry Flanagan later this month in jolly old England.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox