After a difficult second half of 2015, the native of Mexicali, will aim for a victory that put him within touching distance of a world belt, but he has to get through Lopez.
Zepeda (23-1, 20 KOs) last year had the opportunity to win a world title, but an injury to his left shoulder in his fight against England’s Terry Flanagan in July for the WBO Lightweight title, prevented ‘Chon’ from achieving his goal and represented his first defeat. On that occasion, Zepeda dislocated the shoulder in the second round, which meant he could no longer fight.
In October, he returned to activity against Nicaragua’s Jose Alfaro, but in the first session suffered a cut on his left cheek as a result of an accidental head butt and the fight was declared a “no contest”.
The Mexican had started 2015 well with wins over Orlando Vazquez and Armando Robles in January and April respectively until those duels against Flanagan and Alfaro.
At 26 years old, Zepeda has settled for several years in La Puente, California and knows that this fight represents a great chance to contest a world belt over the coming months.
Zepeda will not have it easy against Lopez (25-4-1, 15 KOs) though, a boxer of recognized competence, even though he’s coming off a loss in his most recent outing. Lopez has faced large-caliber opponents such as Humberto “Zorrita” Soto, Viktor Postol, Jhonny Jorge Navarrete and “Maromerito” Paez, among others.
In his most recent outing in the ring, the 25-year-old lost in five rounds against Sammy Vasquez in the welterweight division, which cut a streak of eight victories he had since March 2013.
Before that, his last defeat was in November 2012 at the hands of Soto.