Notebook: Lopez's plan: Retain featherweight title, then unify
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IBF featherweight titleholder Luis Alberto Lopez has a defense at hand but said his longer range goal is to unify titles — and soon.
First up, however, is Lopez’s third defense, which will be against mandatory challenger Reiya Abe on Saturday (ESPN+, card begins at 5:10 p.m. ET) at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.
The fight is the co-feature for the vacant WBA featherweight title bout between newly-signed Top Rank fighter Otabek Kholmatov (12-0, 11 KOs), 25, a southpaw from Uzbekistan, and Raymond Ford (14-0-1, 7 KOs), 24, a southpaw from Camden, New Jersey. So, with two title bouts in the same division on the card, the prospect of the winners fighting to unify belts seems quite possible, especially if Lopez and Kholmatov, who are both with Top Rank, emerge victorious.
It won’t take much to sell Lopez on the idea. It is just what he wants.
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