Andy Cruz will take on an emerging Mexican lightweight next.

The Ring has confirmed that the heavily hyped 2021 Olympic gold medalist from Cuba will oppose Omar Salcido in a 10-round fight January 25 at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Cruz (4-0, 2 KOs) and Salcido (20-1, 14 KOs) will compete in a co-feature DAZN will stream before Los Angeles-based super middleweight contender Diego Pacheco (22-0, 18 KOs) encounters Steven Nelson (20-0, 16 KOs), of Omaha, Nebraska, in the 12-round main event of a card promoted by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing.

Boxing News first reported Cruz-Salido is a done deal and part of the Pacheco-Nelson undercard.

Salcido became a credible option for Cruz when he stopped former WBA interim super featherweight champ Chris Colbert in the ninth round of their October 16 bout in Plant City, Florida.

Brooklyn’s Colbert trailed by wide distances – 79-73, 79-73 and 78-74 – through eight rounds of a 10-round main event ProBox TV streamed. The Mexican-born Salcido, of Lakeside, California, kept pressuring the backtracking Colbert (17-3, 6 KOs), who was stopped while still standing because he took too many punishing punches in the opinion of referee Michael DeJesus.

Two months earlier, Cruz—The Ring No. 9 lightweight—exhibited real vulnerability for the first time since he made his pro debut amid a lot of fanfare in July 2023.

The 29-year-old Cruz ultimately stopped Mexican veteran Antonio Moran in the seventh round August 3 on the Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov undercard at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. Three rounds earlier, the heavy-handed Moran buzzed Cruz with a left hook that caused Cruz to stumble with just under 30 seconds to go in the fourth round.

Cruz held briefly, but he regained his composure pretty quickly and assumed control of their scheduled 10-rounder again. Several right hands by Cruz caught Moran flush in the seventh round, the last of which caused the ropes to hold him up and therefore produced a knockdown.

Moran stumbled all the way across the ring once he reached his feet. That’s when referee Gerard White stopped their fight with one second to go in the seventh round.

Cruz could re-establish some momentum by beating Salcido convincingly. Salcido, 25, has lost only a 10-round unanimous decision to Panama’s Jose Nunez (17-0-2, 7 KOs) in October 2023, also at ProBox’s venue in Plant City.