Rafael Espinoza is set for a long overdue title fight in his home country.
BoxingScene has confirmed that the unbeaten WBO featherweight titlist will defend his crown against Arnold Khegai atop a November 15 show in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The soon-to-be-scheduled 12-round bout will headline a Top Rank-heavy card - promoted by Zanfer Boxing - in what will mark Espinoza’s first fight in Mexico since July 2023 predating his current title reign.
ESPN Knockout’s Salvador “Chava” Rodriguez was the first to report Ukraine’s Khegai as the challenger for the event. The scoop confirmed a previous BoxingScene report on the Mexico card in the works.
Guadalajara’s Espinoza, 27-0 (23 KOs) will attempt the fourth defense of the title he claimed from Robeisy Ramirez in December 2023. Their thriller saw both fighters hit the canvas but Espinoza’s timely 12th round knockdown securing a majority decision victory in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
Their rematch was competitive until it wasn’t, as Cuba’s Ramirez – now based in Las Vegas – was forced to quit seconds into the 6th round last December 7 in Phoenix, Arizona.
The repeat win over Ramirez was one of three successful defenses for the 6ft, 1ins Espinoza – all three of which have come inside the distance. His most recent win came in a seventh-round knockout of Texas’s Edward Vazquez on the May 4 Naoya Inoue-Ramon Cardenas ESPN show from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Khegai will enter his first major title fight and just his second scheduled 12-round contest.
The Los Angeles-based boxer originally from Odessa, Ukraine signed with Top Rank with the intention to challenge for this very title. He even turned down a path that would have led to a shot at the IBF 126lbs belt to instead go the WBO route.
The journey included a pothole, as Khegai dropped a ten-round, split decision to multi-time title challenger Joet Gonzalez on a March 8 ProBox TV show from Long Beach, California. He rebounded with an eight-round, unanimous decision victory over former titleholder Liborio Solis on September 12 in Berlin, Germany.
All told, Khegai has won seven of his last eight starts since a 12-round, unanimous decision defeat to Stephen Fulton in a January 2020 title eliminator between unbeaten contenders.
As previously reported by BoxingScene, the November 15 show will also include:
- Lindolfo Delgado vs. Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela in a IBF 140lbs title eliminator, with the winner will become the mandatory challenger to current titleholder Richardson Hitchins;
- Separate bouts featuring fast-rising 140lbs prospect Emiliano Vargas, 15-0 (13KOs) and unbeaten heavyweight Richard Torrez, 13-0 (11 KOs), a 2020 Olympic silver medalist for the U.S.
U.S. platform rights were not yet made available as this goes to publication. Top Rank remains in search of a network and/or streaming deal after their previous deal with ESPN - which dated back to 2017 - end earlier this summer.
