 Approaches were made to several of the ranked pugilists, with Sergio Medina and Bernabé Concepción emerging as tentative opponents.The WBO's bantamweight champion, Gerry Peñalosa, expressed interest in pursuing the fight after Abner Mares was injured, but his proposal included a guarantee of $250,000 in earnings, which wasn't considered as cost effective by López and his staff.In the meanwhile, he received a homage as part of the Dominican Parade in San Juan, serving as "Padrino Internacional" (lit.