Salido vs Lopez II Undercard: Mikey Garcia to Face Bernabe Concepcion

Ryan Maquiñana reports via Twitter this evening that featherweight prospect/contender Mikey Garcia will be featured on the March 10 Showtime card, and manager Cameron Dunkin says Garcia will face Filipino Bernabe Concepcion.

Garcia (27-0, 23 KO) was known to be set for the show, which will feature a main event rematch between Orlando Salido and Juan Manuel Lopez, but his previous rumored opponent was another Filipino, Michael Farenas. Farenas (33-3-3, 26 KO) didn't figure to be a big challenge for Garcia, but neither does the new man in line.

[ Related: Salido vs Lopez II Press Conference ]

Concepcion (29-5-1, 15 KO) is a flameout sort of former prospect. While still just 24 years of age, he looked terrible last May on Friday Night Fights, losing a split decision that had no business being a split decision to Mexican journeyman Juan Carlos Martinez.

Martinez would go on to get blasted out in four rounds, knocked down three times, by Mikey Garcia five months later on the Donaire vs Narvaez show in New York.

In Concepcion's last fight, he took a 10-round split decision win over Aaron Garcia (10-3-2, 2 KO) in California. Fightnews.com scored that fight for Garcia. You may also remember Concepcion from his fun TKO-2 loss to Juan Manuel Lopez in July 2010.

This really isn't a step up for Mikey. Concepcion has some name recognition, I guess, but it hasn't really been earned. He's still living off his prospect tag and has proven repeatedly to not be a serious contender. The best we can hope for is a good fight, and reports are that the Concepcion vs Aaron Garcia fight was very good, which the fight with JC Martinez was not.

The fight with Farenas was reportedly set to be a WBO eliminator, to put the winner (Garcia, as designed) in line for a shot at the Salido-Lopez winner.