The conqueror of two weight categories, Puerto Rican Jose Pedraza (29-4-1, 14 KOs) fell ill and refused the fight scheduled for December 10 with the former absolute world champion American Teofimo Lopez (17-1, 13 KOs).
By
data Columnist Mike Coppinger, the Puerto Rican will be replaced by Spaniard Sandor Martin (40-2, 13 KOs). The fight will take place in the iconic arena Madison Square Garden in New York (USA). The status of the fight has grown – this is an eliminator fight in the WBC light welterweight line.
The winner, however, will have to wait a long time for his turn: first, on November 26, the Americans Jose Cepeda and Regis Prograis will determine the owner of the vacant title, and then the champion must give an immediate fight to the former owner of the belt, Jose Ramirez from the USA. And only then will the turn of the selection winner Lopez vs Martin come.
It is possible that Teofimo / Sandor will go the other way – along the WBO line. It is assumed that the reigning champion Scot Josh Taylor in early 2023 will give revenge to the Englishman Jack Catterall, and then rise to 66.7 kg.
Lopez and Martin occupy the 1st and 6th positions respectively in the WBO rankings. If the title is vacated, then the winner of this bout will play for the vacant belt in the confrontation with the Australian Liam Paro – 2nd number in the rating and the winner of the selection.
Did you see how the Australian brightly put out the light to his compatriot? Knockout of the year? Paro cut down puncher Jarvis: video. And Martin is known for upsetting an ex-fighter from P4P rating Mikey Garcia.
It’s funny that earlier Teofimo Lopez admitted that he didn’t want to fight Pedraza.