Josh Warrington will defend his IBF featherweight title against mandatory challenger Luis Alberto Lopez, with Warrington having home field advantage for the fight on Dec. 10 in Leeds, England.
Warrington vs Lopez will air live on DAZN.
Warrington (31-1-1, 8 KO) vacated the IBF title instead of taking a mandatory rematch with Kid Galahad, which led to Warrington instead facing Mauricio Lara in Feb. 2021, which is where Lara broke through as a top contender, stopping Warrington in the ninth round.
A rematch with Lara was stopped on a no-decision in two rounds that September thanks to a clash of heads, and then Warrington regained the IBF belt from Kiko Martinez, who had upset Galahad, this past March. It was Warrington’s second win over Martinez, as they’d first met in 2017.
Lopez (26-2, 15 KO) is no walkover, easy mandatory challenger, and this is a legit fight. The 29-year-old Mexican is crafty and tricky, possesses some pop, and hasn’t lost since a 2019 decision to Ruben Villa, who is also a very good boxer.
Since then, Lopez has scored what were then considered upsets over Andy Vences and Gabriel Flores Jr at 130 lbs, and dominated Isaac Lowe in Dec. 2021 back down at featherweight. He’s had two stay-busy type fights this year, stopping Raul Chirino and Yeison Vargas in four and two rounds, respectively, so he’ll be in shape and sharp.