Arnold Barboza Jr. fights on Saturday night live on DAZN, and is aiming to earn a mandatory challenge against super lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez Jr.
The unbeaten fighter will come up against Xolisani Ndongeni live on Saturday night on DAZN, on the undercard for Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Fredrick Lawson.
Barbozoa boasts 28 wins from 28 fights, and he is No. 1 with the WBO, meaning he is likely first in line for a shot at the title when the governing body chooses to enforce a defence.
“I’m still number one in the WBO,” Barboza told BoxingScene.com. “Hopefully, the WBO can make me a mandatory and kind of put Teofimo against the wall to fight me.”
Lopez defeated Josh Taylor back in June to become champion, though he quickly threatened to vacate the belt, before ultimately keeping hold of it, and he is one of the name in the frame to take on new WBC champion at 140lbs, Devin Haney.
Barboza decided to sign for Golden Boy in 2023, and he hopes that Oscar De La Hoya’s company can get him a title fight.
“I feel like now that I have Oscar behind me, you know, I feel like he can get things done,” Barboza said. “I think he can put pressure on their necks and make it happen. So, there is hope because I have Oscar, Eric [Gomez] and B-Hop [Bernard Hopkins] behind me, that’s really gonna fight for me now. So, that’s exciting. That’s what gives me hope on a fight like that. But if not, there’s other champions, there’s other belts. You know what I mean? And we’ll see what happens.”
Discussing Ndongeni, Barboza said: “He’s a really good opponent. Me and him were actually gonna fight like three years ago, and then COVID happened, and we couldn’t fight. But we’re gonna meet up now. I know he’s a very hungry fighter, talented fighter, you know, so we’re definitely preparing 100 percent for him.
“It was very frustrating, and it sucks because it’s not like we don’t wanna fight. We were in the gym and things weren’t getting done. All these things started happening, so last year was definitely a roller coaster. In the last two years there were a lotta ups and a lotta downs. But the past is the past. There’s nothing we can do about it now. We look forward to the future, and I would say it’s ‘Golden.’ ”