Sergio Mendoza wants to create his own path to stardom in the flyweight division. 

Mendoza will face Javier Torres Friday night at the Polideportivo Juan S. Millan in Torres’ hometown of Culiacan, Mexico. The 10-round bout will stream live on ESPN Knockout in Mexico and Canela TV in the United States (10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT).

At Thursday’s weigh-in, Mendoza weighed in at 112.7 pounds. Torres came in at the flyweight limit of 112 pounds. 

The 23-year-old hopes to achieve the same success as Juan Francisco Estrada, who has won a handful of world title belts at 112 and 115 pounds. Both fighters reside in Hermosillo, Mexico. 

In his last bout on December 10, Mendoza (18-0, 16 knockouts) defeated Joaquin Cruz by unanimous decision. In his previous fight on July 22, Mendoza knocked out Francisco Gomez Sanchez in the sixth round. 

The hard-hitting Mendoza will take a step up in class against Torres, who has won his last three fights and has faced the better opposition, on paper.

Torres (15-2, 9 KOs) was originally scheduled to face Mario Gutierrez. No reason was provided why Gutierrez backed out of the fight. 

The 27-year-old has not fought since August 2021, losing to Daniel Valladares by unanimous decision. Valladares would go on to win the IBF world 105-pound title in his next fight against Rene Mark Cuarto almost a year later.

The loss to Valladares took place three and a half months after Torres defeated once-beaten German Valenzuela Barreras by decision.

In the co-feature, featherweight Hector Escobar (17-0, 14 KOs) of Los Angeles will square off against Axel Ahumada in an eight-round bout. 

Escobar has stopped his last four opponents. In his last bout on September 30, Escobar knocked out Edgar Alor in the second round. Over two months before the win over Alor, the 24-year-old, who is managed by Frank Acosta, forced Jesus Montiel Aguirre to retire on his still after the second round. Montiel entered the fight unbeaten.

Ahumada (7-4-1, 6 KOs), who resides in Los Mochis, Mexico, fought to a unanimous decision draw against Christian Gonzalez Huitron in his last bout on August 20. In his previous fight on April 16 of last year, the 22-year-old knocked out Abraham Valdez in the fourth round. 

Both Gonzalez and Valdez entered their respective fights against Ahumada unbeaten. 

In flyweight action, Yoali Mosqueda (6-0, 4 KOs) of Mexico City will face Guadalajara’s Adrian Ibarra (5-1, 3 KOs) in an eight-round bout. Mosqueda was an amateur national champion in Mexico.

Junior bantamweights Juan Carlos Franco (5-1-1, 2 KOs) of Nogales, Mexico and Alexis Silva (5-1, 2 KOs) of Tepic, Mexico will square off in a six-round bout. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene since September 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing