MINNEAPOLIS – Michel Rivera isn’t above entertaining a friendly rivalry in the ring.

He just didn’t expect it to be the case for two straight fights.

The unbeaten Dominican contender was surprised upon learning that his next fight would come versus fellow unbeaten lightweight Joseph Adorno (14-0-2, 12KOs). The two get along outside the ring, mainly through social media though always supportive of the other’s career. Rivera was caught off guard by the call that Adorno had agreed to meet in a pivotal bout above the lightweight limit this weekend on Showtime from The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“I never choose my opponents. They are provided to me and I always say yes,” Rivera told BoxingScene.com. “It doesn’t matter to me that I know this guy. The last guy I fought used to work with my trainer (German Caicedo).

“For this fight, I was offered five different opponents to face. This guy (Adorno) was the last one on the list. They told me the other four guys didn’t want the fight and this guy said yes. They sent me the contract, so I say yes.”

The development signaled the second straight time that Rivera (22-0, 14KOs) will have been intimately familiar with his opponent. Jose Matias Romero had frequently trained alongside Rivera out of Caicedo’s live-in sports complex in Miami prior to their fight last October in Las Vegas, which also aired on Showtime. Rivera put aside the friendship to focus on the business part, claiming a ten-round shutout win while waiting out an expected shot at a version of the WBA lightweight title.

It will be a while, as all of the divisional belts tied up. Lineal/WBA “Super/IBF/WBO champ George Kambosos (20-0, 10KOs) is currently in talks for an undisputed showdown with WBC champ Devin Haney (27-0, 15KOs), while WBA ‘World’ lightweight titlist Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (26-0, 24KOs) faces mandatory challenger Rolando Romero (14-0, 12KOs) atop a May 28 Showtime Pay-Per-View from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Rivera did not want to stay sidelined for an opportunity that likely won’t come until later this year, if even that soon. The 24-year-old Dominican, now based out of Miami, instructed his team—promoter Sampson Lewkowicz and the brass at Premier Boxing Champions (PBC)—to secure the toughest available challenge in the interim. It somehow led to another familiar face.

“It doesn’t matter to me. I didn’t know he would take the fight but that’s okay,” insists Rivera. “I’m ready. We have this good fighter with a good record in front of us. It doesn’t matter that I know this guy. They tell me who I fight and I just come ready.”

Rivera-Adorno serves as the co-feature of a Showtime tripleheader, topped by the U.S. debut of Australia’s unbeaten junior middleweight contender Tim Tszyu (20-0, 15KOs) in a scheduled 12-round bout with 2012 U.S. Olympian and former title challenger Terrell Gausha (22-2-1, 11KOs).

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