By Rafael Soto

World ranked Jose "Chon" Zepeda will return to the ring on the 23rd of January at the Fex in Mexicali, Baja California. That night he will headline the card against veteran Jose "Piston" Lopez. The event will be the first function for Zanfer Promotions in 2016, with the television being handled by Azteca 7, House of Boxing.

After a difficult second half in 2015, the native of Mexicali will aim for a victory that put him back at the challenger for a world belt, but first he has to get past Lopez.

Last year, Zepeda (23-1, 20 KOs) had the opportunity to fight for a world title, but suffered an injury to his left shoulder in his fight against England's Terry Flanagan in July - denying him the ability to win the WBO lightweight title and handed him his first defeat.

On that occasion, Zepeda dislocated his shoulder in the second round and he was unable to continue fighting.

In October, he returned to the ring against Nicaragua's Jose "Bankruptcy" Alfaro, but in the first round he suffered a cut on his left cheek after an accidental head butt and the fight was declared a "no contest".

At 26 years old, Zepeda that this fight represents a great chance to start the year off right as he continues to build to another world title shot in the coming months.

Zepeda knows that he won't have it easy against Lopez (25-4-1, 15 KOs), a boxer who always comes to fight. Although he is coming off a loss in his most recent outing, Lopez has faced large-caliber opponents like Humberto "Zorrita" Soto, Viktor Postol, Jhonny Navarrete and Jorge "Maromerito" Paez, among others.

In his most recent outing in the ring, the 25-year-old lost in five rounds against Sammy Vasquez in the welterweight division, which cut a streak of eight victories that he had built since March 2013. Prior to that, his last defeat was in November 2012 against Soto.