Rees has to travel to Dallas for his title chance

Los Angeles fighter Anchondo, 22, matches an impressive 24-fight 100% record (18 KOs) against Rees' perfect 20-fight run (11 KOs).

The bout will be held in the American Airlines Arena, Dallas, on 15 July.

Rees, 24 and nick-named "The Rock", was to fight champion Diego Corrales, but he vacated the title, opening the way for number-two contender Anchondo.

WALES' WORLD CHAMPIONS Percy Jones (World flyweight champion, 1914) Freddie Welsh (World lightweight champion, 1914-17) Jimmy Wilde (World flyweight champion, 1916-23) Howard Winstone (WBC featherweight champion, 1968) Steve Robinson (WBO featherweight champion, 1993-95) Robbie Regan (IBF flyweight champion, 1995, WBO bantamweight champion, 1996) Barry Jones (WBO super-featherweight champion, 1997) Joe Calzaghe (WBO super-middleweight champion, 1997-) Enzo Maccarinelli holds the lightly regarded WBU cruiserweight title

Corrales is moving up to lightweight where he will challenge unbeaten Brazilian sensation Acelino Freitas in Mashantucket, USA, on 7 August.

Anchondo's biggest victory was a decisive 10-round win over former WBC champion Gregorio Goyo Vargas in December.

The Rees-Anchondo fight, the Welshman's first outside the UK, will be staged by Oscar de la Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions.

It will be the first time a Welsh fighter has tried to win a world title in America since Colin Jones' WBC welterweight defeat by Milton McCrory in Las Vegas in August 1983.