Junior welterweight Mauricio Herrera and prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. will meet Dec. 13 at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas with Herrera's interim title at stake.

Carl Moretti, vice president of Top Rank, which promotes Benavidez, told ESPN.com that he struck a deal with Eric Gomez -- vice president of Golden Boy Promotions, which promotes Herrera -- for the bout and they exchanged paperwork Monday.

The bout will take place on the HBO-televised undercard of the return of former welterweight titlist Timothy Bradley Jr., who is coming off his April title loss to Manny Pacquiao to take on Diego Chaves.

Herrera (21-4, 7 KOs), 34, of Riverside, California, challenged junior welterweight world champion Danny Garcia in March and lost a heavily disputed majority decision as Garcia turned in a poor performance. But when Herrera returned July 12, he won a majority decision against Johan Perez to claim his interim 140-pound belt. Herrera, who handed former titlist Ruslan Provodnikov his first career defeat in a 2011 nontitle bout, will be making his first defense against Benavidez.

The 22-year-old Benavidez (21-0, 15 KOs), of Phoenix, was a heralded amateur before turning pro in 2010 and skipping an opportunity to make the 2012 U.S. Olympic team. He was such a prodigy that the Nevada State Athletic Commission gave him a special waiver to turn pro at age 17 because the rule is 18.

In the pros, Benavidez has had some struggles and has been beset by hand injuries that held him to just one fight in 2013. But he has won all three of his bouts this year, and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said Benavidez is ready to take the next step in his career.

"He's ready to fish or cut bait," Arum said. "You got to take a shot at some point. He wanted this fight. You win, you go on; you lose, you go back to the drawing board. But at a certain point, you have to take that plunge. This is a good fight, and if he wins, he's ready to fight anybody in the division."

The fight was originally offered to Benavidez as a nontitle 10-rounder, but he and his father/trainer, Jose Benavidez Sr., insisted on making it for the title and the deal was worked out, Arum said.

"Benavidez appears to be physically and mentally ready for this," Moretti said. "He knows he has a challenge in front of him. I don't see at this point what two or three more fights would do to get him ready for a fight at this level, so we are taking the shot."

The bout is further evidence that the cold war between Top Rank and Golden Boy is over in the wake of the reconciliation earlier this year between Arum and Golden Boy President Oscar De La Hoya. The fight will be the second nonpurse-bid fight made between Top Rank and Golden Boy since they put their differences aside. Last month, they finalized a Nov. 8 HBO fight between welterweights Luis Carlos Abregu and Sadam Ali, who will meet on the Bernard Hopkins-Sergey Kovalev undercard at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Arum said he is working with HBO on a deal to turn the Dec. 13 card into a tripleheader by including Matt Korobov against Andy Lee for the middleweight world title Peter Quillin recently vacated.

According to Arum and Lee promoter Lou DiBella, both sides have agreed to take the fight but no deal can be finalized until HBO agrees to put the fight on and comes to an agreement on a license fee.

"Andy wants this opportunity," DiBella said. "We like the fight. We think it's a winnable fight and quality matchup. The numbers for the fight aren't done but we've told them we will do the fight."

Moretti said they were waiting for an answer from HBO, which has been mulling it over for about a week.

Korobov-Lee was initially ticketed to take place Dec. 13 in Ireland on a Frank Warren-promoted card, but Arum said those plans fell through.

"I think it's a terrific fight and I can't wait to see it. That's how I judge a fight," Arum said. "Who the hell knows who will win the fight? HBO is interested, and I hope we will get it done."

Korobov (24-0, 14 KOs), 31, a 2008 Russian Olympian now living in Florida, will be fighting for a world title for the first time. He was Quillin's mandatory challenger before Quillin dumped the belt and turned down a career-best $1.4 million payday for the fight.

Ireland's Lee (33-2, 23 KOs), 30, a 2004 Olympian, has fought for a world title once before, getting stopped by then-middleweight titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in the seventh round in 2012. Lee has won five fights in a row since, including a spectacular fifth-round knockout of John Jackson on June 7 on the undercard of Miguel Cotto's middleweight championship victory against Sergio Martinez at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Lee, having moved down to junior middleweight to face Jackson, had been knocked down in the first round and was in big trouble when he came back to score the highlight-reel, one-punch knockout.

"Even though it's two lefties, their styles should make for a very entertaining fight in the ring," Moretti said. "Andy Lee has a little bit more experience and has shown the ability to come back from adversity like he did with one punch against Jackson. And this is the opportunity that Korobov has been training his whole life for, a shot at a world title."