Antonio DeMarco's Next Fight: Mexico in March for Voluntary Title Defense

WBC lightweight titleholder Antonio DeMarco will make the first defense of his belt in March, fighting a date in Mexico on Televisa, according to Miguel Rivera. Exact details, including date, venue, and opponent, aren't known, but the fight is going to be held in Los Mochis.

DeMarco (26-2-1, 19 KO) won the vacant 135-pound belt in October by defeating Jorge Linares in one of the most thrilling finishes of the year. Trailing badly on all scorecards heading into the 11th round (98-92 on two cards, 99-91 on the third), DeMarco went for the miracle comeback and got it, savagely busting up Linares en route to a referee stoppage at 2:32 of the 11th round.

The WBC granted DeMarco, 26, the right to a voluntary defense, but after that he will have to rematch Linares (31-2, 20 KO) at some point. Golden Boy and Linares want to put the fight together, with the fighter again hoping to bounce back from a career-halting defeat. The celebrated prospect Linares has never quite broken through as was expected to happen by now, but it's still pretty universally agreed that talent-wise, he has few peers.

I can't imagine any fight fans objecting to a rematch -- it was a tale of two fights, with the slick, unnaturally gifted Linares setting the tone before being broken apart by a gritty, tough guy who dug down deep and came up with something special.

As for DeMarco's March defense, don't expect a whole lot. There are plenty of guys ranked in the WBC top 15 he could likely handle without much trouble.