Arum has a plan for Valdez-Shakur.

WBC junior lightweight champion Oscar Valdez will return to the ring in September for a voluntary title defense against Robson Conceicao in Arizona, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told ESPN on Thursday.

Valdez (29-0, 23 KOs) is coming off a big win over Miguel Berchelt in February to win the title. He threw a devastating knockout, which will likely be a knockout of the year candidate, in a win that catapulted him to the top of the junior lightweight division.

Since that win, Valdez has been called out by multiple junior lightweight contenders, including Shakur Stevenson, who headlines Saturday’s ESPN show against Jeremiah Nakathila.

Stevenson (15-0, 8 KOs) told ESPN several times this week that Valdez is the fight he wants to make next. “Valdez and I are the biggest fight out there at 130. He’s a hungry, undefeated young lion. I’m a young hungry lion, also undefeated. He’s in his prime. I’m moving on to my prime. I feel like that has to be next. It’s been a long time coming. What are we waiting for? We’re both with Top Rank. It shouldn’t be a tough fight to make.”

But Top Rank, which promotes Valdez and Stevenson, put Valdez in a September fight against Conceicao, meaning Stevenson won’t get his wish.

Top Rank is going ahead with its original plan that vice president Carl Moretti told ESPN, which includes Saturday’s winner facing Herring before the end of the year. Arum added Thursday that the paperwork for that Herring-Stevenson fight is already in place and that they are aiming for it to take place at Madison Square Garden this winter.

Stevenson is the mandatory challenger for Herring’s WBO title, and Herring sent a letter to the WBO saying he would fight the winner of this fight rather than vacate his title. Top Rank’s plan is to put Valdez against the winner of Stevenson-Herring, assuming all parties involved continue to win, in a big ESPN unification fight in 2022.

Valdez will face an opponent in Conceicao who will be heavily favored to win, but tends to have a knack for making entertaining fights. Conceicao has a record of 16-0, 8 KOs. He won the gold medal at the 2016 Olympics.