by Ricardo Archibold

After his unanimous decision victory in his trilogy bout with Mexico's Hernan 'Tyson' Marquez on December 17th in Panama, the interim-super flyweight world champion of the World Boxing Association (WBA), Panamanian Luis "El Nica" Concepcion (34-4, 24KOs), he said is ready to challenge the WBA "regular" champion of his division, Japanese fighter Kohei Kono (31-8-1, 13KOs).

Concepcion has had a good year after scoring an upset decision win over David Sanchez in Mexico.

"Next year I want to face Kono, that's the fight I want. He (Kono) was here watching the fight," 'El Nica" Concepcion said.

Kono, who was at the Arena Roberto Duran to witness the event, said he is also ready to fight with the Panamanian.The last fight for Kono was his American debut in October, when he made his American debut with a decision win over Koki Kameda.

"He (Concepcion) is a great fighter, and I respect him a lot. If it were up to me, I fought with 'El Nica' next year, but it all depends on my manager. I would gladly give him the opportunity to fight me," added Kono.