Eddie Hearn has been warned by Luis Alberto Lopez's manager Kiki Magana that Leigh Wood is "next" for the featherweight champion after his knockout win over Michael Conlan.
The pair both won their featherweight world title fights last night, with Lopez viciously putting away Conlan to silence the SSE Arena in Belfast for the IBF belt before Wood outclassed Mauricio Lara to reclaim the WBA title. And despite Hearn attempting to push an all-British showdown between his charge and Josh Warrington, the Mexican's team will make a play for unification.
Lopez has already had huge success in the UK and Ireland, brutally stopping Isaac Lowe before stunning Josh Warrington in Leeds back in December to claim his world title. And last night he headed across to Belfast in an effort to defend his belt on away soil again, battling with the Irishman for a tough five rounds before landing a one-punch uppercut knockout.
"Please go and tell him that he is next," Magana told Mirror Fighting immediately after the Conlan bout. "Of course, let's make it happen - I'm planning to buy a house in the UK. We're about to call Eddie Hearn and tell him 'if the money's right we'll come to London and we'll fight Leigh Wood'. It will be a full house!
"We would like to thank Belfast, the city had been really good to us since the start of fight week when we arrived to the hotel. Jamie Conlan, Michael Conlan, their whole team they were really, really nice to us and we were really excited, we love coming to the UK, we feel at home.
"When we started working up we knew that we wanted to do at least one really big fight here. Luis wanted to make a statement, he wanted to prove that he is a true champion, a true warrior and I think he did it. He was very motivated because in 2019 he became international champion and in his first defence he lost.
Do you want to see Leigh Wood vs Luis Alberto Lopez next? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
"He told me 'this is not happening again,' and became very motivated, put together a good training camp and right now he's working out and enjoying himself."
Both Lopez and Wood now hold stoppage wins over former amateur world champion and Olympic medalist Conlan, his two sole losses in the paid ranks. And former world champion Carl Frampton, who was covering the bout as an analyst for BT Sport in his hometown, believes that the Mexican may turn out to be a generational talent.
"Lopez is an incredible fighter," he told Mirror Fighting after the bout. "Really good, really unorthodox coming in from different angles and I think he could be someone we're talking about for a number of years' time. It's going to be hard to beat that kid. It was always going to be a hard fight, it was never going to be easy but I did fancy Mick but after a round I said it would be a hard night for him."
