Jackson Marinez might not get a rematch with Rolando Romero, but his handlers are working toward landing him a fight against a former lightweight champion.

BoxingScene.com has learned that negotiations are in the advanced stages for Marinez to fight Richard Commey in a bout ESPN would televise or stream either in January or February. The exact date for a Commey-Marinez match is not set because Top Rank’s schedule of fights on ESPN and ESPN+ for early in 2021 has not been finalized.

The Dominican Republic’s Marinez lost a controversial, 12-round unanimous decision to Las Vegas’ Romero on August 15 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The 29-year-old contender has pursued an immediate rematch with Romero, who won the then-vacant WBA interim lightweight title by beating him in a fight Showtime televised.

Facing Commey at least would reward Marinez (19-1, 7 KOs) for his performance against the 25-year-old Romero (12-0, 10 KOs), who is promoted by Floyd Mayweather’s company.

Commey, meanwhile, would fight for the first time since Teofimo Lopez knocked him out in the second round of their lightweight title fight last December 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Brooklyn’s Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs), who since has upset three-division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs), won the IBF 135-pound crown from Ghana’s Commey (29-3, 26 KOs).

Lopez also became the first opponent to knock out the 33-year-old Commey.

As part of his deal for the Lopez bout, Top Rank, which promotes Lopez, owes Commey a comeback bout. Mexico’s Antonio Moran (26-4-1, 19 KOs) is another potential opponent Top Rank has explored for Commey’s comeback, but Marinez is the preferred foe.

Marinez isn’t a puncher, but he is a skillful boxer who out-landed Romero in their 12-rounder.

According to CompuBox’s unofficial statistics, Marinez connected on 103-of-629 overall punches, whereas Romero landed 86-of-509. CompuBox credited Marinez for landing more power punches (72-of-401 to 61-of-251) and jabs (31-of-228 to 25-of-258).

Romero still won their fight on all three scorecards. Judges Glenn Feldman (116-112), Frank Lombardi (118-110) and Don Trella (115-113) each scored Romero the winner.

Lombardi strangely scored 10 of the 12 rounds for Romero.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.