For the 6-foot-1 Mexican featherweight, those significant bouts include unification clashes with the other titleholders and The Ring's pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter Naoya Inoue. Any hopes of making those fights in 2027 depend on Espinoza's ability to avoid an “Upset of the Year” scenario when he defends his WBO featherweight title against Ricardo Blandon on Saturday.

Espinoza’s 12-round bout against Blandon (21-6, 14 KOs) is part of The Ring’s “Mexico vs. The World” card at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The card is headlined by the 12-round bout between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Christian Mbilli for Mbilli’s WBC super middleweight title on DAZN PPV (10 a.m. ET/2 p.m. GMT) and as part of the DAZN Ultimate plan.

“I want to wait to see if I can do a unification,” Espinoza told The Ring. “There is also a great fight, which is the one against Inoue. I think that it’s the fight that would catapult me in the pound-for-pound rankings of the world, and that is my dream. It’s the reason why I’m at 126, and I want to unify, but if this gets complicated or we can’t unify anymore, I would like to move up to 130.”

Espinoza (28-0, 24 KOs), The Ring’s No. 1-rated featherweight contender for its vacant title, faces Blandon (21-6, 14 KOs) after close to a one-year layoff. He last scored an 11th-round stoppage of Arnold Khegai on November 15 in Mexico.

Angelo Leo (26-1, 12 KOs) holds the IBF title, and Bruce Carrington (18-0, 10 KOs), The Ring’s No. 2-rated contender at 126 pounds, is the WBC champion. The WBA title is vacant after Brandon Figueroa missed weight for his scheduled title defense against Tomoki Kameda on October 17.

Inoue (33-0, 27 KOs), the undisputed 122-pound champion, has flirted with a move to featherweight. Just when the Japanese superstar makes his move north seemingly depends on whether a bout with Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez can be made for early next year.

Regardless of which fight presents itself, Espinoza hopes that one of the three fights is next. If neither of them comes to fruition, a move to 130 pounds could be in the cards for him.

“The one who gives me the opportunity first,” Espinoza said. “The first one to say ‘Here I am to unify with Espinoza.’ That's the one I want. That’s why I’ve been taking care of my weight in this weight class – to be able to have these big fights.”

Espinoza was originally scheduled to face mandatory challenger Lorenzo Parra (24-1-1, 18 KOs) on Saturday. An issue with his pre-fight medicals led to the Venezuelan contender having to withdraw from the contest.

Blandon, 34, of Managua, Nicaragua, has won four straight fights since losing a unanimous decision to Rene Alvarado in August 2024. Of those four wins, two have come against fighters who had more losses than wins.