Mick Conlan will have a second shot at a featherweight title against the newly crowned Mexican, Luis Alberto Lopez.
A few weeks ago, we reported that Conlan was close to securing his shot against Lopez and those rumours have now been made official.
Conlan was seconds away from a world title last March before he was stopped in the twelfth round of his contest against Leigh Wood whilst being ahead on the scorecards.
Since then, the fan-favourite featherweight has returned with two fights in Ireland, outboxing three-time world title challenger, Miguel Marriaga, to a comfortable decision, before stopping former European champion, Karim Guerfi in the opening round of their bout in December.
‘Mick’ will challenge for Lopez’s IBF title, in what will be the champions’ first defence of the belt since defeating Josh Warrington for world honours.
Lopez’s aggressive style will undoubtedly result in a plan to rough Conlan up, meanwhile the challenger will seek to use his amateur experience – including an Olympic bronze medal – and slick boxing skills to pick apart the Mexican champion.
However, despite a run of four fights without a stoppage win ahead of his fight with Guerfi, Conlan’s punch power is not to be underestimated.
The 31-year-old proved his ability to stop opponents with a phenomenal dismantling of a solid opponent in Guerfi, which has seen him rise up to sixth in the IBF rankings.
Upon announcement of the fight, ‘Mick’s’ brother and manager, Jamie, recognised the dangers of facing Luis Alberto Lopez, he told BT.
“Luis Alberto Lopez is a very dangerous fighter and a fantastic champion that has a reputation of going to the enemy’s backyard and upsetting the apple cart, so we are in for a barnburner on May 27th.”
The contest will take place on May 27 at the SSE Arena in Conlan’s hometown of Belfast, with a heap of Irish prospects expected to feature on the undercard.
