Juanmita Lopez De Jesus, 4-0 (2 KOs), will fight on the undercard of Xander Zayas vs. Abass Baraou, a junior middleweight unification bout being held on January 31 at Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan. According to promoter Top Rank, Lopez De Jesus will take part in a six-rounder against a fellow junior bantamweight who has yet to be announced.
This will be the second fight in Puerto Rico for the 19-year-old, who hails from Caguas, the island’s fifth-largest city.
Lopez De Jesus represented Puerto Rico in the 2024 Olympics, turned pro in February and had his second pro bout in Aibonito in April.
This will be a much larger show in the capital city. And it is a venue that the elder Lopez is quite familiar with. He fought 25 of his 43 pro bouts in Puerto Rico, with five shows at this arena, including a successful defense of his junior featherweight title against Cesar Figueroa in 2008 (KO1) and one of his featherweight belt against Bernabe Concepcion in 2010 (TKO2).
Lopez De Jesus fought four times in 2025. All went smoothly aside from a split decision win over Malik Quinonez-Torres, who knocked the teenager down in the opening round. In his last outing, Lopez De Jesus won a wide six-round decision in September over the 4-1 Luis Morales.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
