By Francisco Salazar

Unbeaten Manuel ‘Tino’ Avila will fight Rene Alvarado on April 1, Golden Boy Promotions matchmaker Robert Diaz told Boxingscene.com late Wednesday afternoon.

The 10 round featherweight bout will take place at the Belasco Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif. Estrella TV will broadcast the fight live on Estrella TV, beginning at 10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT.

Avila (19-0, 8 KOs) has developed into a possible title contender, defeating modest opposition as of late. His most impressive win to date was a knockout win after the sixth round over former world title challenger Yoandris Salinas on August 8.

In his last bout on October 24, Avila, who resides in Northern California city of Fairfield, defeated Jose Angel Beranza over eight rounds.

“Manuel Avila is one of Golden Boy’s top fighters and rising stars to watch, so his move up to featherweight on April 1 will be an exciting event to see,” said Oscar De La Hoya, who is the chairman and CEO of Golden Boy Promotions.

Alvarado (23-6, 16 KOs) was stopped in his last bout on December 18 at the hands of Andrew Cancio. The fighter from Nicaragua is 3-4 in his last seven bouts, with those losses coming against Cancio, Eric Hunter, Rocky Juarez, and Joseph Diaz, Jr.

Opening the ‘Boxeo Estelar’ telecast, junior welterweight Gilberto Gonzalez (25-3, 21 KOs) will fight in an eight round bout against a fighter to be determined.

Gonzalez, who has won his last seven fights in a row, has not fought since July 2 when he knocked out Hevinson Herrera in the third round. According to Diaz, Gonzalez has been recovering from a hand injury.

RingTVLive.com will begin broadcasting preliminary action at 8:30 p.m. ET/ 5:30 p.m. PT. Oscar Torres (8-0, 4 KOs), welterweight Melsik Baghdasaryan (3-0, 1 KO), and Tenochtitlan Nava (pro debut) will fight in separate bouts on the undercard.

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