By Brock Ellis

ONE day not too long ago, what appeared certain suddenly wasn't and one man found himself presented with a once in a life-time opportunity.

The timing was perfect, and after so many years fighting in relative obscurity - the opportunity many fighters wait years to earn has been thrown his way and a man who had no fights scheduled now finds himself challenging for a world-title.

Eight years removed from his professional debut, Australia's Frank LoPorto (15-4-2, 7 KOs) will be thrust into the lime-light when he takes on the undefeated American and reigning champion Austin "No Doubt" Trout (23-0, 13 KOs) for the WBA light-middleweight championship on Friday November 11th, in the main event of a ShoBox: The New Generation card live on SHOWTIME® from Cohen Stadium in El Paso, Texas.

Trout, 26, who is making his network debut while defending his title for the first time on home turf, was originally scheduled to face Japan's Yuki Nonaka. However, when Nonaka broke his hand in preparation for the fight, Trout was left without an opponent. In stepped the WBA #14 world-rated LoPorto, 33, who is fighting for the first-time outside of Australasia.

While the opportunity was without a doubt unexpected, LoPorto's manager/promoter Adam Wilcock of Fight Card Promotions believes that it was a work in progress rather than a shock call-up to fight Trout and credits his working relationship with Trout's management for the swift and productive negotiations.

"Bob (Spagnola) and Greg (Cohen) have been great to deal with, I've had no problems at all," proclaimed Wilcock. "I'd been speaking with Bob since March and he's been very open and honest throughout - I couldn't have asked for more."

Trout isn't the first fighter that Spagnola has guided to championship level, having previously worked with Frank Tate and more famously Calvin Grove, whom Spagnola both guided to world-title fights.

Spagnola has credited by many industry insiders for his work with Trout. Considering that up until his championship fights, he guided his charge without any promotional backing or major financial support.

On the other hand, LoPorto is one of a handful of fighters that Australia's Adam Wilcock has nurtured towards title-fights in 2011. Wilcock also guided Australian bantamweight champion Mark Quon to an unsuccessful challenge for the Commonwealth title, while successfully negotiating and promoting Dianna Prazak's dramatic victory over then-leading female fighter Lindsay Garbatt for the WIBA super-featherweight crown last month.

Admitting that it has been a lot to take in, Wilcock was honest in his appraisal of his fighters and believes that this year is the first of many fruitful years to come.

"This year has been a big one, and next year will hopefully be even bigger," said Wilcock. "Quon's title-fight was a big one in terms of his career. Being a fighter in the lighter weight divisions is very hard in Australia, so getting an overseas shot at the Commonwealth title was a great opportunity for him."

"But Dianna's world-title came about because we were willing to take a chance. We knew that she was something special but we didn't know how good - beating the best fighter in her division proved that."

Having said that, Wilcock acknowledged that the latest opportunity in which LoPorto has been given is definitely the biggest of them all.

"This title chance for Frank is probably the biggest in world-terms," he continued. "Given the amount of quality light-middleweight's there currently are in the world, without forgetting the competition there was to get this fight."

The bout appears to be a launch-pad for both fighters, who are chasing a big-money showdown with another Australian in Anthony Mundine, who holds one-third of the WBA's light-middleweight title, being the 'interim' champion - an 'honour' he claimed with his shut-out of a listless Rigoberto Alvarez earlier in the month.

"Frank is a good, tough fighter," Spanola stated.

"But Mundine, apparently he's a legend. Anthony says he wants title fights in America. Well it's time the rubber met the road," he continued. "We're willing to offer him a New Year's Eve party. We're talking about a title-fight in America (on Showtime).

Despite his record, which doesn't make for great-reading on a first impression, LoPorto is legitimately Australia's leading light-middleweight. He proved that last October when he mauled former world-title challenger Daniel Dawson over twelve-rounds to gain the PABA light-middleweight strap, which has in-turn given him his world-rating with the WBA - LoPorto also holds a credible win over WBA #10 middleweight Robbie Bryant.

Under the impression that he is being firmly under-estimated by the defending champion, the Australian has been hard at work, sparring multiple rounds with WBO #3 welterweight Samuel Colomban, who will challenge England's Denton Vassell for the Commonwealth welterweight title next month as well as WBA #12 light-heavyweight Joel Casey.

"He's very skilful and knows his way around the ring but he hasn't fought someone like me," LoPorto said. "I'm going to be a bit of  a mystery to them, I'm going to try to give him hell from the first-round until the last".

Follow Brock Ellis on Twitter @brockellis01.