Sergio Mora’s loss is Cory Spinks’ gain.

After the Contender alum Mora blew off a chance of a lifetime, rather than fight in Jermain Taylor’s hometown, promoter Lou Dibella needed a fill-in to fight his middleweight stud.

The southpaw Spinks (36-3, 11 KOs) stepped up, and will meet the 28-year-old Taylor (26-0-1, 17 KOs) on May 19 on HBO at the FedEx Forum, ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael reports.

“Cory is ready to make the most of the opportunity,” Spinks’ manager/trainer Kevin Cunningham told Rafael of ESPN.com on Thursday night. “We appreciate [promoter] Lou DiBella and Jermain for giving us the opportunity to challenge for Jermain’s title. We’re not going to blow it. It’s on. We haven’t signed the contracts yet, but we have the contracts. We’ve agreed. At least one of the marquee fighters [Taylor] in boxing has the [guts] to fight Cory.”

Middleweight contenders-on-the-cusp Kelly Pavlik (30-0, 27 KOs) and Edison Miranda (28-1, 24 KOs) will face off in the primary support bout, Rafael also reported.

I admit I’m more pumped up for that one than I am for the Taylor/Spinks bout. The 29-year-old Spinks is a skilled technician, but a little smooth for my liking. I like some rough edges, and Miranda has those, for sure.

Also, the drama is sure to be sky-high, as both 28-1 Miranda and 30-0 Pavlik have been yearning to take a leap into main event status…

“Cory is extremely excited to have this fight,” Cunningham said. “The Spinks family has a history of making history.”

The fight matches the world’s No. 1 middleweight with the former undisputed welterweight champion, who is now recognized by many as the No. 1 junior middleweight. Spinks, coming off a lopsided decision win against mandatory challenger Rodney Jones on Feb. 3, will move from 154 pounds to 160 for the fight.

“Cory looks at this as a fight he has to win,” Cunningham said. “He has to win a fight like this to get respect from the networks and the experts. He feels it’s a fight he has to win. He’s looking at making history and becoming a three-division world champion. This is the opportunity for Cory to get respect and to be looked at as one of the best fighters of his time. If he has to go up in weight to fight a bigger, stronger, heavier guy, he has no problem doing it.”

Said DiBella: “In some ways, I would have preferred the Mora fight. I actually think Spinks is tougher for Jermain. Spinks is a more difficult fight with less reward. Cory is a difficult fighter. He’s an elusive guy. Jermain will have to track him down and impose himself on Cory.”

The match shapes up as a big regional rivalry, which is why DiBella wants to call the fight “The Border Battle.” Taylor, from Little Rock, Ark., and Spinks, from St. Louis, are both proven draws in their hometowns. Both cities are only a few hours by car from Memphis and fans of both fighters figure to flock to Memphis for the fight.

“People from both cities will come to Memphis for the fight. It’s a great regional fight,” DiBella said.

“It will be a huge fight in Memphis, a lot bigger than Taylor fighting Sergio Mora,” Cunningham said.

DiBella said that former welterweight champion Vernon Forrest (38-2, 28 KOs) will also be on the undercard, possibly in a junior middleweight elimination bout against European junior middleweight champ Michele Piccirillo (47-3, 30 KOs) of Italy.

Whether the fight will be part of HBO’s broadcast has not been determined, but even if it’s not, HBO likely would air highlights.

Piccirillo claimed a vacant welterweight world title on a highly controversial decision against Spinks in April 2002 in Italy and then lost the belt in his first defense against Spinks when they met in a rematch 11 months later, also in Italy.