Caballero wants Sept. 18 date with Lopez

Ryan Burton of BoxingScene.com reports that in another PR move meant to drum up talk in his favor, Celestino Caballero is ready, willing and able to fill in for the reportedly injured Rafael Marquez on September 18 against Juan Manuel Lopez.

"Just tell Juanma's people to talk to my team and make a good offer. Give me what Rafa was getting or what Juanma is getting. This is the fight I have wanted for years."

Caballero is a big talker, but he's not just talking when he says he wants Lopez in the ring. Caballero has for almost a year repeatedly called out Lopez for a fight, and never received serious interest from Top Rank as an opponent. There did appear to be a date set for January of this year between the two of them, but instead Lopez moved up to featherweight and defeated Steven Luevano, a fellow Top Rank fighter who held a belt at 126. Caballero followed him up in weight in April, dominating Daud Yordan in his HBO debut.

There will, of course, be people who categorize this as Lopez "ducking" Caballero, but it just doesn't work that way. Caballero is nearly six feet tall and a one-month camp to prepare for someone that unique is just not realistic at the highest levels of the sport. Preparing to fight Rafael Marquez is not the same as preparing to fight Celestino Caballero. They are totally different camps, particularly with regard to sparring. Caballero and Marquez have almost nothing in common as fighters.

But if Marquez is going to be out 6-to-8 weeks as reported, which really means about 12 weeks if Marquez is cautious (and at 35, he has every reason to be cautious), then Lopez does need an opponent for sometime before the end of the year. Top Rank could again look in-house or schedule another softer fight, but that might not be palatable anymore. He needs a good opponent, and Caballero is the best one out there who has nothing scheduled and is going to be willing to fight him.

If Marquez can't make a fight before the end of 2010, it really is time for Top Rank and Lopez to step up and make the fight with Caballero happen. It's overdue and in demand. Nobody should expect them to do it on September 18, but it should be done sometime. If there's no TV date on Showtime or HBO available, this would be the sort of fight that I think a lot of us wouldn't terribly mind seeing headline a Latin Fury show. Beats Lopez-Lontchi.