Yet another delay has been met with the Eimaintas Stanionis-Vergil Ortiz welterweight clash.
BoxingScene.com has learned that the WBA ‘Regular’ welterweight title fight will no longer move forward. The battle of unbeaten contenders was due to headline a DAZN show this Saturday from AT&T Center in San Antonio, but is once again postponed after Ortiz was hospitalized overnight for undisclosed reasons as this goes to publication.
Boxing Scene has confirmed that the rest of the show will move forward. Unbeaten lightweight prospect Floyd Schofield Jr. (14-0, 11KOs)—who hails from nearby Austin—will now headline the show versus Haskell Lydell Rhodes (28-4-1, 13KOs).
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our fighters, and we of course support Vergil’s decision 100 percent,” Golden Boy said in a statement. “This unfortunate event does however open the door for one of Golden Boy’s top prospects, Floyd Schofield, to accelerate his profile by headlining in his home state of Texas. We will, as always, put on a high-action card from top to bottom on July 8 and look forward to showcasing all of our fighters both in San Antonio and on DAZN.”
The latest setback marks at least the third postponement for Stanionis-Ortiz and second confirmed fight date. The secondary WBA welterweight title fight was briefly paused after Lithuania’s Stanionis (14-0, 9KOs) was forced to undergo an emergency appendectomy in January, which pushed their ordered fight to April 29 in Arlington, Texas, near Ortiz’s hometown in Grand Prairie.
Ortiz (19-0, 19KOs) was then forced to postpone that date after a repeat episode of rhabdomyolysis in late March. The condition caused his second fight date postponement in just more than a year. HE was also forced to push back his clash versus England’s Michael McKinson by more than four months to August 6 in Fort Worth, Texas after he was hospitalized just ahead of fight week for their planned bout last March 19 in Los Angeles.
It remains unclear if the same condition caused Ortiz’s recent trip to the hospital. It is not yet known if Stanionis—who has not fought since his title win over Radzhab Butaev last April 16 in Arlington—will remain on the show.
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Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox