Erik Morales to face Jorge Barrios?

According to Esto Online (link in Spanish), Erik Morales will be continuing his comeback trail on July 17, with the likely opponent to be Jorge "La Heina" Barrios.  The bout would be contested at 140, and would take place in either Tijuana or Cancun.

This may be a bit of a stretch for both fighters.  "El Terrible" retired nearly three years ago after a closely contested loss against David Diaz and a stretch where he lost five out of six fights. He attempted to become the first Mexican to win titles in four different weight classes against the then-weakest titlist, but came up short.  He's still chasing the ghost though, and came out of retirement to take a welterweight fight against Jose Alfaro a few months back.  While he won that bout, he didn't look impressive by most reports, and Alfaro, like Barrios, is a natural lightweight who beefed up for the fight.  

Barrios has had issues of his own.  Not too long ago, he was arrested for vehicular manslaughter after a hit and run accident where he killed a pregnant woman.  He's been out on bail since then, but at this point, he's only fought three times in the last three years.  Junior welterweight would be a career-high weight for Barrios, who's bounced back and forth between lightweight and junior lightweight for years.   

According to the report, the card will also include strawweight titlist Roman Gonzalez against Jesus Silvestre, as well as a bout featuring 24-0-1 super featherweight prospect Alejandrio Sanabria.  No television has been announced yet, but Intergrated Sports picked up Morales' last fight for a small pay per view.  

A few other scheduling notes:

• With Jesse Brinkley pulling out of his title eliminator with Sakio Bika, the IBF has named a new mandatory for Lucian Bute - Jesse Brinkley.  I have no idea how someone pulls out of an eliminator, only to be named the mandatory, but it's happened. This makes Brinkley the likely favorite to face Bute in his next fight, which is tentatively scheduled to be in Romania in July.  
• Nathan Cleverly and Karo Murat are reportedly close to signing the dotted line and avoiding a purse bid for a title eliminator.  The fight would likely be in September and take place in Wales.  The undercard is rumored to feature Enzo Maccaranelli defending his European cruiserweight title against up-and-coming prospect Alexander Frenkel.