By Miguel Rivera
Juan Manuel Lopez (35-6, 32 KOs) is crossing his fingers that a victory will set up a long awaited showdown with fellow former world champion Yuriorkis Gamboa (28-2, 17 KOs).
The two boxers will appear on a pay-per-view doubleheader on November 10 at Marlins Park in Miami, Florida. Gamboa will face Miguel Beltran of Mexico, while Lopez will clash with Cristian Mino.
Should Lopez and Gamboa both win - they are expected to face each other in an upcoming card.
Lopez, who in his last fight was stopped by Jayson Velez in the twelfth round in March, wants to come roaring back on the scene.
"I am happy to be on the big stage again, one that I have been used to being on. This is a pay per view event and that merits a lot of attention. With the help of my management team including Mr. Pepiama who has taken the spot of my promoter and has helped me very much and become almost a father figure to me. I thank New Champion Promotions for giving me this opportunity and I look forward to it," Lopez said.
Lopez and Gamboa were at one time being positioned to fight each other back in 2010-2011, when both were promoted by Top Rank. The fight fell apart when Lopez was upset by Orlando Salido in 2011.
He fears Gamboa will pass him over and instead face WBA lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko.
"Obviously most important to me personally is to win this fight and potentially set up the next fight against Yuriorkis Gamboa, which has been a fight that has kind of eluded both of us but as long as I take care of business and he takes care of business there is no reason for that not to happen for the next fight," Lopez said.
"On the other hand he is talking about fighting Lomachenko. If he wins this fight and skips me and wants to keep running, let him run, but hopefully he does not run. This fight was done with the idea and the plan that we both get featured on a card and we fight and win and fight each other but now he’s talking a different language – fighting Lomachenko – so maybe he is having second thoughts. It’s a fight that the public wants but it is all up to him. Hopefully he sticks to the plan."