Mauricio Lara is set to embark on his run as an aspiring two-division titlist.

The former WBA featherweight titlist will return to the ring on February 16, in support to the previously announced Adrian Curiel-Sivenathi Nontshinga IBF junior flyweight title fight rematch. BXSTRS Promotions confirmed Lara’s placement versus countryman Daniel Lugo on the DAZN show which will air live from Auditorio Guelaguetza on Oaxaca, Mexico.

Mexico City’s Lara (26-3-1, 19KOs) will fight for the first time since his lopsided points loss to Leigh Wood in their title fight rematch last May 27 in Manchester, England. The defeat came three months after Lara scored a come-from-behind seventh-round knockout to win the WBA title last February 18 in Wood’s hometown of Nottingham, England.

The loss to Wood in the rematch was doubly damaging. Lara entered fight week so far ahead of the divisional limit that the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) disallowed any attempt at a drastic weight cut. He left his title at the scales, and the defeat itself ended a sixteen-fight unbeaten streak that dated back to 2018.

The weight struggles headed into that fight prompted Lara’s team to immediately set their sights on the junior lightweight division. He will now fight in his home country for the first time since an October 2022 third round stoppage win over Jose Sanmartin in his Mexico City hometown.

Lugo (27-2, 18KOs) enters the fight armed with a three-fight win streak.

The 29-year-old fringe contender went the distance in a ten-round, unanimous decision win over Miguel Angel Torres last October 6 in his hometown of Hermosillo, Mexico. The fight versus Lara will mark a considerable step up in class. The show’s headliner sees Curiel (24-4-1, 5KOs) attempt the first defense of the IBF junior flyweight title. He won the title in a stunning first-round knockout of South Africa’s Nontshinga (12-1, 9KOs) last November 4 in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Nontshinga previously won the title in a Fight-of the-Year worthy split decision win over then-unbeaten Hector Flores on a September 2022 DAZN show from Hermosillo.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox