Emmanuel Rodriguez and Melvin Lopez are scheduled to fight for a vacant 118-pound title Saturday in the Washington, D.C. area.
EMMANUEL RODRIGUEZ (21-2, 13 KOs)
VS. MELVIN LOPEZ (29-1, 19 KOs)
- Date: Saturday, Aug. 12
- Time: 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT (main event later in show)
- Where: MGM National Harbor Hotel & Casino, Oxon Hill, Maryland
- TV/Stream: Showtime
- Division: Bantamweight (118 pounds)
- At stake: Vacant IBF title
- Odds: Rodriguez 5½-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)
- Pound-for-pound: None
- Also on the card: Gary Antuanne Russell vs. Kent Cruz, junior welterweights; Travon Marshall vs. Gabriel Maestre, welterweights; Marcus Browne vs. Adrian Taylor, cruiserweights
- Prediction: Rodriguez UD
- Background: Rodriguez had an outstanding 2018, when he easily outpointed Paul Butler to win the vacant IBF title and then narrowly outpointed Jason Moloney in his first defense. Then came disaster. He lost his perfect record and belt to Naoya Inoue in May 2019, when the Japanese star put him down three times and stopped in the second round. That was followed by a split-decision loss against to Reymart Gaballo and a no-contest against Gary Antonio Russell (as the result of a cut). Then the 30-year-old Puerto Rican reasserted himself as a top fighter. He stopped Roberto Cantu in one round this past March and easily outpointed Russell to win an impressive 10-round technical decision in another fight cut short by a cut in October. Lopez is a formidable boxer-puncher from Nicaragua who will be taking part in his first title fight. He has won eight consecutive fights since he was stopped by Jose Velasquez in 2019. Rodriguez is a significant step up in opposition for Lopez.
