Real or not: Will Canelo KO Berlanga? Lopez the best featherweight? Last of Lomachenko?

IBF featherweight champion Luis Alberto Lopez defends his belt against Angelo Leo in the main event of a Top Rank on ESPN card at Tingley Col iseum in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Saturday (ESPN/ESPN , 10 p.m. ET).

Lopez’s last loss was in May 2019 and he has won 14 consecutive fights since, including impressive victories over Josh Warrington in England and Michael Conlan in Northern Ireland. But is he the best featherweight in boxing?

Vasiliy Lomachenko recently rejected a lucrative fight against fellow lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis and while he hasn’t announced his retirement, will we see “Hi-Tech” in the ring again?

Canelo Alvarez will make his second ring appearance this year, but not against the fighter fans have clamored for. Instead of David Benavidez, Canelo will face Edgar Berlanga, who’s never fought at this level in his short career. While Berlanga possesses incredible power — he started his career with 16 consecutive first-round KOs — can he find a way to win, or at least go the distance against Alvarez?

Former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will fight for a title for the first time in two years. Joshua will face IBF champion Daniel Dubois in London, as “AJ” is favored to become a three-time world champion (-550 per ESPN BET).

And two-division champion Danny Garcia returns to the ring for just the second time in almost four years to take on WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara. Garcia, who won belts at 140 and 147 pounds, is moving up in weight for the chance to become a three-division champion, but can he upset an older but still powerful Lara?

Mike Coppinger and Nick Parkinson answer these questions and more, trying to distinguish what’s real and what’s not.

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Real or not: Vasiliy Lomachenko will retire without another fight

Not real… for now. Lomachenko is contemplating retirement, sources told ESPN, part of the reason he declined a lucrative fight with Gervonta Davis in November. There’s also a possibility that Lomachenko will return in the first half of 2025 to defend his IBF lightweight title.

After all, Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs) appeared in a fighting mood Saturday in Los Angeles: he and Shakur Stevenson had to be separated at ringside during the Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov card. Lomachenko was seen telling Stevenson, “Let’s go right now.

If that’s any indication, Lomachenko will fight again. Maybe even against Davis or Stevenson, the two biggest fights on the table for him. But if he never laces up the gloves again, Lomachenko’s legacy is secured. He’s a three-division champion, a first-ballot Hall of Famer and a mainstay of the pound-for-pound list over the last 10 years.

He also doesn’t need