Josesito Lopez to face Ortiz

Josesito Lopez will step in to face Victor Ortiz on June 23rd in Los Angeles after Andre Berto tested positive for a banned substance according to Dan Rafael of espn.com

“(Golden Boy) offered the fight to us on Friday afternoon. I got a call from (Goossen Tutor Promotions matchmaker) Tom Brown saying we got the offer and I said, ‘We’ll take it,'” Lopez’ trainer/manager Henry Ramirez said. “We’re excited. We’re ecstatic. Our job is to get the biggest fight out there for Josesito that we can for the best money we can get, and this is that fight.”

“We’ve explored a variety of potential opponents, and so far Lopez seems to be the best available opponent that will take the fight on short notice,” Showtime Sports general manager Stephen Espinoza told ESPN.com. “He is a strong, tough and experienced fighter, and he’s looked particularly good in his last few fights. I like this matchup, and I hope a deal can be worked out.”

Junior welterweight Humberto Soto (58-7-2, 34 KOs) and Lucas Matthysse (30-2, 28 KOs) will still meet in the Showtime co-featured bout, but Riverside, Calif., heavyweight contender Cristobal Arreola (35-2, 30 KOs), who is also trained by Ramirez, will be added to the card to make it into a televised tripleheader. The fight figures to be Arreola’s final bout before an anticipated heavyweight championship shot against Wladimir Klitschko in November.

“Pending approval of the opponent, the Arreola bout would be added to undercard on the Showtime broadcast,” Espinoza said

“My guy has been in the gym, so all we have to do is just change the date of the fight by one day and change our sparring partners,” said Ramirez, noting that Lopez was preparing for the right-handed Holt and now will be facing a left-hander in Ortiz.

“Holt pulls out on us and then this drops in our lap, so we’re excited,” Ramirez said. “The kid (Lopez) will make probably four or five times his biggest purse (which was $35,000) for this fight with Ortiz and a lot more than he would have gotten to fight Holt. So we are in a no-lose situation here because it’s a great opportunity, it’s a good payday and it’s a fight we believe that we can win.

“Lopez puts pressure on his opponents and we know Ortiz doesn’t like pressure and we also know he doesn’t have the biggest heart in the world. We’ve seen him quit before” in a sixth-round knockout loss to Marcos Maidana in a 2009 interim junior welterweight title bout.