Junior lightweight world titleholder Jezreel Corrales will make his third defense when he squares off with Alberto Machado on Oct. 21, Golden Boy Promotions made official on Monday.
The fight will take place at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York, and headline a "Boxing After Dark" card on HBO at 10 p.m. ET.
Corrales (22-1, 8 KOs), a 26-year-old southpaw from Panama, signed with Golden Boy earlier this year and made his HBO debut on July 15, when he won a hard-fought 10th-round technical decision against Mexico's upset-minded Robinson Castellanos.
Castellanos knocked Corrales down twice in the fourth round and Corrales dropped him in the seventh round, but the fight was stopped in the 10th round and sent to the scorecards for a technical decision after a very bad accidental head-butt ripped open a terrible cut under Castellanos' right eye. Corrales was awarded a majority decision via scores of 96-92, 94-93 and 94-94.
Now Corrales will have to deal with Machado (18-0, 15 KOs).
"I am very excited to fight for a second time on HBO, but this time in the headlining bout of a great event," Corrales said. "I know that Alberto Machado is a strong fighter, but I too am strong and intelligent. I know that my style of fighting will give him a lot of problems. I'm confident that I will defend my title for the third time successfully."
Machado, 27, of Puerto Rico, put himself in position for the shot at a 130-pound world title by dropping and winning a 10-round unanimous decision against Carlos Morales on Aug. 18 in Puerto Rico in the main event of a "Golden Boy Boxing on ESPN" card.
"I am very happy and ready to face the great champion Jezreel Corrales," Machado said. "I know that it won't be an easy fight, but I am more motivated then ever to take this title to my family and to Puerto Rico, who really needs it during this time of grief [following Hurricane Maria].
"This fight is for my son, my family and for Puerto Rico. I know that a victory would bring happiness to Puerto Rico after the destruction caused by Hurricane Maria. HBO is the television channel that each boxer wants to be on in order to keep moving on to better things, as was done by great Puerto Rican boxers such as Miguel Cotto, Felix 'Tito' Trinidad and Hector 'Macho' Camacho."
Although it has not been officially announced yet, secondary junior middleweight titlist Demetrius Andrade (24-0, 16 KOs), 29, of Providence, Rhode Island, will face an opponent to be determined in the co-feature. Andrade's fight will be his first of a newly signed three-fight contract with HBO.
Andrade will fight a nontitle fight in the middleweight division, one HBO is heavily invested in as the television home for Canelo Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin, David Lemieux and newly signed Daniel Jacobs.
The HBO telecast will also include same-day taped coverage of the bantamweight world title unification fight between Ryan Burnett (17-0, 9 KOs), 25, of Northern Ireland, and Zhanat Zhakiyanov (27-1, 18 KOs), 33, of Kazakhstan, who meet at SSE Arena in Belfast, Burnett's hometown.
Golden Boy also announced it will feature several of its prospects on the card, including super middleweight D'Mitrius Ballard (17-0, 12 KOs), 24, of Washington, D.C., and featherweight Lamont Roach Jr. (14-0, 5 KOs), 22, of Marlboro, Maryland, in 10-round bouts against opponents to be announced.
Also, junior welterweights Zachary Ochoa (17-1, 7 KOs), 24, of Brooklyn, New York, and Luis Feliciano (3-0, 0 KOs), 24, of Milwaukee, will see action against opponents to be determined in six-round contests.