‘Canelo’ Alvarez, Josesito Lopez signed to fight Sept. 15

Riverside’s Josesito Lopez will fight Mexico’s star super-welterweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez Sept. 15 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, promoter Richard Schaefer announced Wednesday.

Lopez is the fourth scheduled opponent for Alvarez (40-0-1, 29 knockouts) in a World Boxing Council title bout that has shrunk from pay-per-view status to being broadcast by cable network Showtime. Lopez will be a greatly undersized opponent matched against the 154-pound champion.

“I can’t let this opportunity pass me by,” Lopez said a telephone interview. “Plus, I have a lot of time to get myself prepared for this fight, plenty of time.

“I’m more concerned about Canelo the fighter than Canelo being bigger than me. But I will work, get a strategy in place, and do my best that night. I know that.”

Three other fighters were scheduled to fight Alvarez, but a motorcycle crash left Paul Williams paralyzed, shoulder pain and a dispute over his purse eliminated James Kirkland and Victor Ortiz suffered a fractured jaw in a loss to Lopez.

“Who am I to deny Josesito Lopez?” Schaefer said, adding that Lopez will receive a “career-high” purse to fight Alvarez at 154 pounds.

“We looked at other options. And do I think he’s a bit small? Yes,” Schaefer said. “But I think what he did against Victor Ortiz earned our respect.”

The 27-year-old Lopez (30-4, 18 knockouts) was also a replacement opponent against Ortiz after world champion Andre Berto tested positive for a steroid. Lopez was losing on all three scorecards after nine rounds in their June 23 fight at Staples Center, but he put up a spirited effort and broke Ortiz’s jaw in the ninth.

Ortiz did not to answer the bell for the 10^th round.

“I know they put me in the ring with Victor Ortiz to have me beat and now they are doing the same thing with Canelo,” Lopez said in a statement. “But I’m up for the challenge.”

Schaefer said that Alvarez can weigh “whatever he wants” up to the maximum 154 pounds for the fight. Lopez weighed 146.5 pounds before he fought Ortiz.

“What happened when Manny Pacquiao fought Oscar De La Hoya, and everyone expected the smaller Pacquiao to get killed?” Schaefer asked.

The difference is, Alvarez is 21, not a faded veteran.

Alvarez watched Lopez’s victory over Ortiz from ringside at Staples Center and said in a prepared statement that his fifth title defense “will be very competitive, but nothing can take away my desire to be the best in the sport.”

Alvarez-Lopez will highlight a four-fight card that will include a WBC featherweight title fight pitting champion Jhonny Gonzalez vs. the Southland’s Daniel Ponce de Leon.

Tickets priced from $25-$400 go on sale Saturday at noon Pacific time.

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