Sooner or later, unbeaten junior lightweight Ivan Delgado was going to face a stern test in the ring.

That test is young veteran Charles Huerta, who believes he is one fight away from becoming a contender in a loaded 130-pound division.

Delgado and Huerta will square off on Friday, April 14, in a crossroads bout at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles. The eight-round bout will air live on Estrella TV (beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/ 7:00 p.m. PT).

The Delgado-Huerta LA Fight Club main event is also a battle between two Southern California junior lightweights. Delgado resides in South-Central Los Angeles, while Huerta lives a few minutes away in Paramount.

Delgado (11-0-1, with 4 knockouts) is one of many prospects that fight under the Golden Boy Promotions banner. The 26-year-old Delgado has made a remarkable transformation from running with a local gang to compiling an unbeaten record.

Delgado has shown power and aggression in recent fights, knocking out his last two opponents. Delgado, who last fought on Dec. 17, knows Huerta is no pushover.

“This fight means stepping up to the next level,” said Delgado, who draws big crowds to local venues like the Belasco Theatre. “Huerta’s experienced. He’s conditioned and hungry for the opportunity to step back into the big leagues. It’ll be a great match stylistically since Huerta moves forward aggressively. I’m not scared to step up to exchange punches while being smart about it.”

Huerta (18-5, with 11 KOs) has lost his last two bouts and four of his last six bouts. In his last bout on Dec. 17, Huerta dropped junior lightweight prospect Carlos Morales, but lost a close 10-round split decision on the Bernard Hopkins-Joe Smith Jr. undercard.

Three of Huerta’s five defeats have come by majority or split decision.

Despite the setbacks, Huerta believes he can still be a contender.

“This fight gets me to where I once was: back into the boxing scene and fighting (the) top guys,” said Huerta, who has been a pro for almost 10 years. “I know that I’ll have to watch for out for his tough left hook, but I believe that with my experience I’ll overwhelm him. I’ve fought more experienced fighters, fought more rounds, and that’ll make a difference in the ring.”

In the co-feature bout, Jonathan Navarro (8-0, with 5 KOs), who resides in nearby East Los Angeles, faces Joan Valenzuela (4-7-1, with 4 KOs) in a six-round junior middleweight bout.

Opening the ‘Boxeo Estelar’ broadcast, Manny Robles Jr. (11-0, with 4 KOs) squares off against Antonio Martinez (6-8, 5 KOs) in a six-round junior lightweight bout.

RingTV.com will stream the entire card, beginning at 8:30 p.m. ET/ 5:30 p.m. PT. Below is the final bout sheet with Thursday’s weigh-in results:

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing