Jair Valtierra is a lightweight prospect who could be on the cusp of a breakthrough year. He would need to notch an impressive victory over a solid gatekeeper to move forward in a very competitive division.

Valtierra will square off against Emanuel Lopez, Friday night, at Auditorio Blackberry, in Mexico City. The 10-round bout will headline the second installment of the “Boxeo Telemundo” spring series (Telemundo, 12 midnight ET/ 9 p.m. PT).

Valtierra (14-0, 7 knockouts), who resides in Leon, Mexico, defeated Jerson Aguilar by unanimous decision in his most recent bout, on February 26, in Mexico City. The victory over Aguilar took place over eight months after Valtierra defeated Aurelio Hernandez by unanimous decision.

The 19-year-old signed a multi-year promotional deal with All Star Boxing in December. Promoter Tuto Zabala Jr. believes Valtierra is the goods and will be victorious against Lopez.

“Valtierra is a young, unbeaten prospect who is only 19 years old,” Zabala told The Ring late Tuesday night. “We have a lot of confidence in him. He has a difficult task in a youth versus experience fight against Lopez, who held an interim world title belt. It’s a hard test [for Valtierra] but we expect a great fight and for Jair to pass this test.

“Should he be victorious, his next appearance will be in the United States,” Zabala added.

On paper, Lopez will be a step up in opposition, despite having lost four of his last six bouts.

Lopez, who resides in Tapachula, Mexico, has not fought since September 2019, when he was stopped in Round 7 by Ayanda Nkosi. Three months prior to the loss to Nkosi, Lopez was knocked out by unbeaten Michael Magnesi, of Italy.

Other notable fights for Lopez were losses to former world title challenger Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov, Aram Avagyan and Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov, all of whom are unbeaten.

In the co-feature, Mario Andrade (15-11-7, 4 KOs), of Mexico City, will face Giovanni Garcia Barragan (5-2-2) in an eight-round flyweight bout.

Lightweight Jonathan Ramirez (4-2, 2 KOs) will square off against Jose Carrillo (3-2-1, 3 KOs) in a six-round bout.

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

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