Teofimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson are just days away from locking horns in what could prove to be one of the most exciting fights of the year.
Lopez is set to make the fourth defence of his WBO world super-lightweight title against Stevenson at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday January 31.
Stevenson made his much-anticipated return to action back in July when he produced a career-best performance against William Zepeda, defeating the Mexican via unanimous decision to retain his WBC lightweight title for the third time.
As for Lopez, the Brooklyn-native has been inactive since he comprehensively outpointed mandatory challenger Arnold Barboza Jr, racking up his sixth straight victory against his countryman at Times Square in New York.
The winner of the intriguing domestic clash could be next in line to challenge newly-crowned WBC super-lightweight champion Dalton Smith, who confirmed in a recent interview with Sky Sports that he would be interested in facing the winner.
“Either [Stevenson or Lopez]. I always said I want to be a world champion, a WBC world champion and I will fight whoever to do that. I did that and it will be the same process for the future ahead. You fight whoever you have got to fight.”
Smith achieved his career-long dream of becoming a world champion earlier this month when he stopped Puerto Rico’s Subriel Matias in the fifth round of their bout at the Barclays Center in New York City, becoming the latest British fighter to capture a world title.
