Who are the best Mexican contenders who haven’t won a major title?
This is a question worth asking as unbeaten welterweight Raul Curiel will rematch Alexis Rocha on Friday night at the Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, California. It will be 13 months after their first encounter ended in a majority draw.
Curiel, a 30-year-old from Guadalajara, Mexico, is now training with Robert Garcia. Freddie Roach trained Curiel, 16-0-1 (14 KOs) for the first bout, shortly after he represented Mexico in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
We are approaching the 10-year anniversary of the standout moment of Curiel’s boxing journey thus far.
Just one fight has followed since Curiel’s abovementioned draw with Rocha. He stopped Victor Rodriguez in the 4th round last June 28 on the Jake Paul-Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr card in Anaheim, California.
More than a year after their first meeting, the road to a major title fight for Curiel still runs through Rocha, 25-2-1 (16 KOs).
The same can be said for the 28-year-old from Irvine, California, who didn’t fight at all in 2025. He is unbeaten in three fights since a 2023 knockout loss to Giovani Santillan, and represents a tough task for Curiel who hopes 2026 is the year where he can avoid inclusion from a category like this.
For this list, we focused on fighters who have not earned a world title or interim title.
That qualifier eliminates lightweight William Zepeda, who is one of Mexico’s most interesting current contenders and who held the WBC interim lightweight title before losing to Shakur Stevenson.
Another fun fact: four of the fighters on this list train with Robert Garcia in Moreno Valley, California.
Here is the list of the contenders.
10. Diana Laura Fernandez
Record: 36-4-1 (5 KOs)
Weight Class: Women’s flyweight
Born: Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
Fernandez, active among women boxers, is one of the best to not have won a title. She is currently 0-3 in title fights. Her last two losses came in title fights, and ironically, to a pair of boxing sisters. In 2019, she’d lose a unanimous decision to Mariana Juarez for the WBC bantamweight title. Two years later, Fernandez would lose a split decision to Lourdes Juarez, Juarez’s younger sister, for the WBC junior bantamweight title. It was her second split decision loss to Lourdes, as the two had faced off before in 2017. Her first loss came against Debora Anahi Dionicius, when she traveled to Argentina to fight for the IBF junior bantamweight title. At 31, she is now a veteran who has one unfortunate challenge working against her: one of the best fighters in the world, Gabriela Fundora, is an undisputed champion in her weight class.
9. Arturo Cardenas
Record: 17-0-1 (9 KOs)
Weight Class: Junior featherweight
Born: Sahuayo de Morelos, Michoacan, Mexico
Cardenas has had to prove himself as a pro. He has taken some tough fights, earning his spot in the division. Cardenas recently won a 10-round unanimous decision over Cesar Vaca in December. He also holds a win over unbeaten Danny Barrios Flores. The division he is in has some legendary fighters, such as Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani, as well as rising stars like Ramon Cardenas. Cardenas, who trains with Garcia in Moreno Valley, California, has established himself as a true top-15 level talent and is capable of getting a call for a title shot or title eliminator.
8. Eduardo “Rocky” Hernandez
Record: 37-2 (32 KOs)
Weight: Junior lightweight
Born: Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
“Rocky” will always be a threat. He can box, but can also punch like a mule. He showed skill in outboxing Rene Tellez Giron in February. Yet, he had only one fight in 2025. He returns this week on a regional card in Mexico. Hernandez's only title fight to date was against O’Shaquie Foster. He was stopped in the 12th and final round and was up on the cards at the time of the stoppage. Hernandez will always be a contender and is even more dangerous as he gets older and people underestimate him.
7. Sergio Mendoza Cordova
Record: 27-0 (23 KOs)
Weight Class: Junior flyweight
Born: Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico
An unbeaten power-puncher, who is the IBF junior flyweight No.1 contender with the belt currently held by Thailand’s Thanongsak Simsri. In 2026, a title fight should be awaiting, and given the amount of power he packs in his punch, if he obtains a belt, he becomes someone who could make interesting TV fights with fellow titleholders. Also, with all power-punchers, there is a chance he could move up in weight and be effective, which gives him a chance to be an emerging fighter in multiple weight classes.
6. Erik Badillo
Record: 19-0 (8 KOs)
Weight Class: Junior flyweight
Born: Distrito Federal, Mexico
Badillo won two title eliminators in 2025, which should lead to a title shot in 2026. In July, Badillo defeated Zapata, and in November, Badillo returned to defeat former titleholder Elwin Soto. Badillo is an aggressive, methodical puncher who looks to land precise shots. At times, he can have lulls in fights, but when he sees his openings, he looks to land telling, meaningful blows. He is the No.1 contender in the WBC rankings with the belt currently held by a lightweight legend, Thammanoon Niyomtrong. Badillo has the style and craft to be a multi-division titleholder. He just has to put it together against the fellow titleholders.
5. Lindolfo Delgado
Record: 17-0-1 (9 KOs)
Weight Class: Junior featherweight
Born: Linares, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
Delgado had a hard 2025. He was dropped by Elvis Rodriguez and won by a narrow margin with a majority decision. Then he won a contentious split decision over Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela in his following bout in November. In fact, he has won three of his last four fights by split or majority decision. Delgado is currently the IBF No.1 contender. He has fought and beaten the fighters required for him to be in his spot and has a solid knockout ratio. The problem has been, at times, his temperament. Delgado is a patient boxer, which could stem from his pedigree as a 2016 Mexican Olympian. The flip side to that is he can have rounds where very little happens as he is poised waiting to land a big power shot. If openings don’t occur, he isn’t always willing to take risks or initiate action. Delgado is one of the bigger X-factors, as his first title fight will define where he goes next and how his trajectory is defined.
4. Brandon Mosqueda
Record: 13-0 (10 KOs)
Weight Class: Featherweight
Born: Mexico
Mosqueda won the WBC Grand Prix boxing tournament. In his five wins taking place over the course of 2025, he defeated four unbeaten fighters: Bishara Sabbar, Gully Powar, Ayubkhon Bakhtiyorov, and Muhamet Qamili. Mosqueda fights in a popular division, and now, after winning the Grand Prix, he has a good resume to skip the prospect phase and now be seen as a contender. Two things will be telling about his development. The WBC Grand Prix is a bold idea, and fighters like Mosqueda and Carlos Utria will be case studies in how fighters develop from it.
Some of the best boxing in 2025 took place in the tournament, yet it didn’t seem to get a ton of attention. Mosqueda is a well-accomplished fighter who proved himself to be among other up-and-comers. Opportunities should come, will people understand his achievements? And also, could so many hard fights early on start to age him faster than younger fighters? These questions to think about since we haven’t seen a bold prospect tournament like the one he entered in recent times. Regardless, Mosqueda is on the cusp of fighting the big names. He just needs the fight contract to do it, as he showed his willingness to fight the best in 2025.
3. Raul Curiel
Record: 16-0-1 (14 KOs)
Weight Class: Welterweight
Born: Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Curiel’s immediate future will be seen on Friday night. He has developed on undercards, which culminated in a disappointing draw to Alexis Rocha in 2024. He fought once in 2025, getting a stoppage win over Rodriguez in June. The big story for his upcoming bout is that Curiel is working with his new trainer, Garcia. Garcia led Giovani Santillan to a stoppage victory over Roacha in 2023. Curiel shows promise and vulnerability, as this upcoming bout on Friday will set a ceiling for the future of his career. At Curiel’s best, he is an exciting pressure fighter with heavy hands. Now is his moment as he faces Rocha, trained by one of the most underrated coaches in boxing, Hector Lopez.
2. Isaac Lucero
Record: 18-0 (14 KOs)
Weight Class: Junior middleweight
Born: La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico
“Puro Mexico.” Lucero has mostly fought on the undercard stream of Premier Boxing Champions, but the Bob Santos-trained fighter is right in the mix for big opportunities. Santos told BoxingScene last year he had so much confidence that they would have stepped in to face former titleholder Keith Thurman, when a fight fell apart between Thurman and the junior middleweight titleholder. Lucero has only fought three times in the U.S., with two of the three coming last year, and is riding a seven-fight knockout streak. Lucero stopped Roberto Valenzuela Jnr in December, and the Junior middleweight division never lacks talent. We truly have no clue what his ceiling is at the present moment, which is both exciting and daunting. Lucero is currently No.3 in the WBA junior middleweight rankings and should be in line for a bout of consequence in 2026.
1. Oscar Duarte
Record: 30-2-1 (23 KOs)
Weight Class: Junior welterweight
Born: Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico
Duarte has reemerged under the coach of Garcia as a Marcos Maidana figure. After Duarte lost to Ryan Garcia in December 2023, he switched to Garcia. The result has been a polishing of his fundamentals, in which Duarte has won four straight fights. Those wins came over former titleholder Joseph Diaz Jnr, Batyr Akhmedov (who took the fight on short notice), Miguel Madueno, and Kenneth Sims Jnr. Duarte has reestablished himself as one of the most interesting fighters in the world to have not won a title, while organically building his fanbase. Duarte is rated in the top-10 of all the major sanctioning bodies, and with a fan-friendly style, awaits an opportunity in an ever-changing junior welterweight division.
