It has been a while since we have seen Josesito Lopez in a big fight. The 30-year old fighter is on the comeback trail after back-to-back knockout losses to Saul Alvarez and Marcos Maidana. Since then, he defeated Mike Arnaoutis via technical decision and in 2014 he fought two soft touches in Aaron Martinez and Rafael Cobos.
But with the new NBC deal just announced and a fight with Andre Berto being rumored to take place in the spring, ThaBoxingVoice.com decided to catch up with the Mexican-American fighter from California to discuss his plans for 2015 and Al Haymon.
Al Haymon and NBC officially announced their 20-fight deal for 2015 last week. Three big fights were announced immediately, other fights have been heavily rumored to take place on NBC too. A crossroad fight between Lopez and Andre Berto is one of them. But while Lopez admitted that he is expected to fight soon, he wouldn’t confirm his opponent just yet.
“I just know that I am fighting in March”, the fighter told Thaboxingvoice. “It has been a while since I have been in the ring. So we are getting ready for a March date and we will find out soon who it will be against. I expect to be on the NBC Network. I am excited. this is a year where all the good and exciting fights will be made. I am excited to be a part of it.”
Lopez, who holds a record of 33-6 with 19KO’s, goes by the nickname of ‘the Riverside Rocky’. The nickname is a testimony to his fighting style and his willingness to take on tough challenges, especially his upset win over the then highly-touted Victor Ortiz. When we asked the fighter who he preferred to fight next, he gave a Rocky-like answer.
“I wanna fight exciting fighters. I am an exciting fighter myself. I wanna please the fans. I think the best comes out of me when I fight good fighters. What better than to fight another exciting fighter. There are a lot of very good fighters out there in the welterweight division, I wanna fight a lot of them.”
Lopez is one of approximately 150 fighters that are managed by Al Haymon. While boxing fans and media are often very critical about him, his fighters speak of him like he is God. Lopez explained what is so great about the influential manager.
“Haymon is for the fighter. He got the ability to make any fight possible. The exciting fights are gonna come. But he also knows when you have to take a step back and makes sure you still make money. He knows when you are ready for a big fight or not. No fighters are complaining with him, there is a reason for that.”
As previously mentioned, Lopez is expected to fight Berto in March. A good, competitive matchup where the winner will go on to bigger things, while the loser probably falls off the boxing radar for the foreseeable future. Whether the fight will also take place on the March 7 card is uncertain. It could also headline a card later that month on the NBC Sports Network.
