Junior lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, suffering from an infection in a cut on a knuckle on his right hand, withdrew from a scheduled Sept. 15 defense against Rocky Juarez, and the entire "Fireworks" card was canceled Friday night.
Marquez
Marquez-Juarez was supposed to headline an HBO PPV card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Mexican Independence Day weekend, a traditional date in the city for a Hispanic-themed fight card.
In addition to the main event, also called off were the undercard bouts: first-season "Contender" reality series winner Sergio Mora against former junior middleweight titlist Kassim Ouma; featherweight titlist Robert Guerrero against Martin Honorio; and "Contender" season two runner-up Steve Forbes against Francisco "Panchito" Bojado.
"The safety of our fighters comes first and it's too bad that Juan Manuel got hurt after training so hard for this fight," Oscar De La Hoya, head of Golden Boy Promotions, said in a press release. "We are sending him to Los Angeles this weekend for further evaluation and treatment by a specialist. We are committed to bringing excellent shows to our fans and with the unfortunate injury to Marquez at this late stage, our only option was to cancel the show."
Marquez was supposed to make the first defense of the 130-pound championship he won in March by outpointing Marco Antonio Barrera. However, Marquez suffered a cut on his right hand, which developed an infection that caused severe swelling.
"The only way to describe how it looked like is this -- you know when you see a cartoon character get hit on the hand with a hammer and it blows up? That's what it looked like. And it was oozing puss," Golden Boy Promotions chief operating officer Dave Itskowitch told ESPN.com.
Itskowitch said the swelling began Tuesday and "there was one night where Juan Manuel couldn't sleep because the pain was so bad. They had him on antibiotics, but it wasn't getting better at a rate fast enough where he would be able to fight."
It is the second significant injury to hit the card. Marquez was originally supposed to face former titlist Jorge Barrios, but he withdrew a few weeks ago because he was diagnosed with retina tears in both eyes during a routine physical.
After Barrios pulled out, Juarez, who was supposed to face Guerrero on the undercard, was bumped up to the main event.
Juarez, speaking to ESPN.com from his home base in Houston, was very disappointed with the cancellation and thought maybe it was only a ploy to disrupt his training.
"I still got a little hope, I guess. I'm not going to throw any liquor in my system just yet," he said. "I'm very disappointed. [Manager] Shelly Finkel called me up and told me the news. It's just very disappointing. When Shelly was telling me I was waiting for him to tell me he was joking, but he's never joked with me ever in my career. I didn't know how to take it .I didn't want to accept it. I don't want to accept it.
"I was looking forward to the opportunity. It was going to be my highest paycheck to date [close to $500,000], but it was mainly the opportunity to fight for the championship against a great fighter. Here it is -- I put in the hard work and we're one week away. That's the hard part. What the hell am I supposed to do now?"
With the boxing calendar loaded until the end of the year, Itskowitch said there are no plans to reschedule the fight.
"We have no plans to have the two of them fight each other right now, or at any point in the near future," he said.
Fans who bought tickets for the show can receive a full refund where they made their purchase.
Also complicated by the cancellation is Tuesday's second episode of the new season of "The Contender" on ESPN. De La Hoya, Ouma, Bojado and "Contender" alumni Mora and Forbes taped an appearance together to help promote the pay-per-view card in addition to interacting with the new set of fighters on the reality series.
De La Hoya also made a side bet with "Contender" front man Sugar Ray Leonard regarding the outcome of the two fights pitting their boxers. If De La Hoya's fighters went 2-0 against Leonard's, Leonard was going to have to serve as a round card girl during the first round of the main event, and vice versa. If the fights were split 1-1, De La Hoya and Leonard would both serve as round-card girls.
Now, that is a sight we might never see.
Marquez
Marquez-Juarez was supposed to headline an HBO PPV card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Mexican Independence Day weekend, a traditional date in the city for a Hispanic-themed fight card.
In addition to the main event, also called off were the undercard bouts: first-season "Contender" reality series winner Sergio Mora against former junior middleweight titlist Kassim Ouma; featherweight titlist Robert Guerrero against Martin Honorio; and "Contender" season two runner-up Steve Forbes against Francisco "Panchito" Bojado.
"The safety of our fighters comes first and it's too bad that Juan Manuel got hurt after training so hard for this fight," Oscar De La Hoya, head of Golden Boy Promotions, said in a press release. "We are sending him to Los Angeles this weekend for further evaluation and treatment by a specialist. We are committed to bringing excellent shows to our fans and with the unfortunate injury to Marquez at this late stage, our only option was to cancel the show."
Marquez was supposed to make the first defense of the 130-pound championship he won in March by outpointing Marco Antonio Barrera. However, Marquez suffered a cut on his right hand, which developed an infection that caused severe swelling.
"The only way to describe how it looked like is this -- you know when you see a cartoon character get hit on the hand with a hammer and it blows up? That's what it looked like. And it was oozing puss," Golden Boy Promotions chief operating officer Dave Itskowitch told ESPN.com.
Itskowitch said the swelling began Tuesday and "there was one night where Juan Manuel couldn't sleep because the pain was so bad. They had him on antibiotics, but it wasn't getting better at a rate fast enough where he would be able to fight."
It is the second significant injury to hit the card. Marquez was originally supposed to face former titlist Jorge Barrios, but he withdrew a few weeks ago because he was diagnosed with retina tears in both eyes during a routine physical.
After Barrios pulled out, Juarez, who was supposed to face Guerrero on the undercard, was bumped up to the main event.
Juarez, speaking to ESPN.com from his home base in Houston, was very disappointed with the cancellation and thought maybe it was only a ploy to disrupt his training.
"I still got a little hope, I guess. I'm not going to throw any liquor in my system just yet," he said. "I'm very disappointed. [Manager] Shelly Finkel called me up and told me the news. It's just very disappointing. When Shelly was telling me I was waiting for him to tell me he was joking, but he's never joked with me ever in my career. I didn't know how to take it .I didn't want to accept it. I don't want to accept it.
"I was looking forward to the opportunity. It was going to be my highest paycheck to date [close to $500,000], but it was mainly the opportunity to fight for the championship against a great fighter. Here it is -- I put in the hard work and we're one week away. That's the hard part. What the hell am I supposed to do now?"
With the boxing calendar loaded until the end of the year, Itskowitch said there are no plans to reschedule the fight.
"We have no plans to have the two of them fight each other right now, or at any point in the near future," he said.
Fans who bought tickets for the show can receive a full refund where they made their purchase.
Also complicated by the cancellation is Tuesday's second episode of the new season of "The Contender" on ESPN. De La Hoya, Ouma, Bojado and "Contender" alumni Mora and Forbes taped an appearance together to help promote the pay-per-view card in addition to interacting with the new set of fighters on the reality series.
De La Hoya also made a side bet with "Contender" front man Sugar Ray Leonard regarding the outcome of the two fights pitting their boxers. If De La Hoya's fighters went 2-0 against Leonard's, Leonard was going to have to serve as a round card girl during the first round of the main event, and vice versa. If the fights were split 1-1, De La Hoya and Leonard would both serve as round-card girls.
Now, that is a sight we might never see.
