By Francisco Salazar

Junior welterweight contender Jose ‘Chon’ Zepeda returns to action tonight, hoping an impressive victory will lead to a world title opportunity early in 2019.

Zepeda will square off against Domicio Rondon at the Auditorio Municipal in Tecate, Baja California Norte, Mexico. The 10-round bout will air live on Azteca TV throughout Mexico.

The southpaw Zepeda (29-1 1 NC, 24 knockouts), who resides in nearby Mexicali after residing in the Los Angeles suburb of La Puente, was dropped in round four by lightweight contender Carlos Diaz in his last bout on June 16. Zepeda recovered to hurt and eventually stop Diaz one round later.

Zepeda is unbeaten in his last seven fights since suffering the only loss of his career at the hands of Terry Flanagan in July of 2015.

Although he is ranked number nine by the WBA at 135 pounds, Zepeda moved back up in weight to compete as a junior welterweight. At Friday’s weigh-in, Zepeda weighed in at 141 pounds, while Rondon tipped the scale at 142.5.

Zepeda, who is trained by Roberto Alcazar, is ranked number four by the WBO.

Rondon (15-4, 10 KOs) lost by technical decision in round five to junior welterweight contender Pedro Campa on June 30. The Cumana, Venezuela resident had won his previous four bouts prior to the Campa fight.

In the co-feature, junior bantamweight Dewayne Beamon (15-1-1, 11 KOs) will face former junior flyweight title challenger Martin Tecuapetla in an eight-round bout.

The fight is a rematch of their Aug. 11 clash in Mexico City, a fight Tecuapetla (14-9-4, 10 KOs) won by split decision.

In lightweight action, Bryan Alexis Gonzalez (7-0, 5 KOs) will square off against Juan Ramon Bernal (5-5-1, 4 KOs) in a six-round bout.

Zanfer Promotions will promote the card. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing