Thomas LaManna will finally move forward with a super middleweight bout against a fighter from the greater Houston area.

It's just not the fight for which he's waited months to materialize.

The Ring has confirmed that LaManna (38-5-1, 17 KOs) will return to the ring on a March 8 show from 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 33-year-old from Millville, New Jersey is set to face Noe Lopez (11-6-1, 4 KOs), a 10-year-pro from the Houston metropolitan region of Spring, Texas.

“At least somebody from Houston will fight me,” LaManna quipped to The Ring.

The claim is in reference to LaManna’s long-delayed and ultimately canceled clash with former two-division titlist Jermall Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs). Their bout was due to take place last Dec. 14 in Charlo’s Houston hometown, but canceled when the Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach Jr. main event was postponed by nearly three months.

LaManna—affectionately known as ‘Cornflake’—held out hope that his clash with Charlo would follow Davis-Roach to the March 1 date at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Weeks went by before it was made clear that Charlo—who has suffered from injuries and mental health issues—was not returning to the ring anytime soon.

“I still wish him the best,” noted LaManna. “We waited a long time on the Jermall fight, and there were a lot of letdowns sitting out all that time.

“I’m just glad to be back in the ring.”

LaManna-Lopez will take place just above the super middleweight limit. It's around the same weight at which LaManna planned to face Charlo, though it's still a one-off as he will return to middleweight soon thereafter.

LaManna has won eight in a row since a May 2021 knockout defeat to Erislandy Lara (33-3-1, 19 KOs) in their WBA middleweight title fight. He has been out of the ring, however, since a third-round knockout of Juan Carlos Abreu last June 8 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Once he learned of the Charlo fallout, LaManna and his team proceeded with their next move. A bigger fight is on the horizon later this year, but the decision was made to at least get in a rust-shaker. Room was made on the March 8 show presented by Swift Promotions, headed by former two-division champ Danny Garcia.

“Thank you to Danny and to Mike (Farrell) for getting me in,” LaManna noted. “I want to thank my management team Tommy and Marty with TMA Management.

"Also Daniel González, for getting me this opportunity and always stuck beside me supporting me through my toughest times.”