Robson Conceição He has one mission at this point in his career and that is to become world champion.
After three failed attempts, the junior lightweight returns to action tonight (April 13) against Jose Ivan Guardado Ortiz The match will be televised as the opening match of the ESPN main card at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The 2016 Olympic lightweight gold medalist, who won the honor in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, fulfilled his dream of winning in his home country.
Conceição, currently 17-2-1 (8 KOs), hopes the fourth time will be the charm. Standing in his way is Ortiz (15-1-1), a 25-year-old who is 10 years younger than the 35-year-old Conceição.
The Brazilian fought Oscar Valdez for the WBC junior lightweight world title and lost (though many experts felt he should have won). In his second bid, he lost a lopsided unanimous decision to Shakur Stevenson, whose WBC and WBO junior lightweight titles were on the line, but Stevenson had missed the weigh-in before the fight. His third attempt was a draw with Emmanuel Navarrete for the WBO junior lightweight title.
“I think I can challenge for another title fight,” Conceição said this week. “I think I can aim for the title again soon.”
Conceição is currently No. 2 in the WBC rankings. That belt is held by Oshakie Foster, who recently signed with Top Rank, Conceição's promoter.
Despite his lack of success in the title fight, Conceição looks back on his past fight with Navarrete, which some may see as a turning point. Conceição was injured in a fall, but still fought to a draw.
“It was definitely a tough fight against Emmanuel Navarrete,” Conceição said. “It was a war, but we learned a lot from it.”
The big question is whether he learned any championship lessons from last November's grueling match. Tonight, Conceição will answer some of these questions as he hopes to move forward towards his world title dreams.
