Ohara Davies will have to wait a few more weeks for his Golden Boy Promotions debut.
A delay in his visa paperwork has forced the British contender to withdraw from this weekend’s planned interim WBA junior welterweight title fight versus Venezuela’s Ismael Barroso. The bout was due to serve as the DAZN-aired chief support to the Ryan Garcia-Oscar Duarte 140-pound clash this Saturday at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Davies was not able to get his paperwork settled in time to travel to the U.S.
“Due to Visa delays, the fight between Ohara Davies and Ismael Barroso scheduled for this Saturday, December 2 will be postponed to a later date,” Golden Boy chairman and Hall of Fame former six-division champ Oscar De La Hoya confirmed Wednesday. “More information will be made available in the coming weeks.
“[Floyd Schofield] will now be the co-main event on the stacked card Dec.2.”
Austin’s Schofield (15-0, 11KOs) faces Tijuana’s Ricardo Lopez (17-7-3, 12KOs) in the new chief support. The scheduled ten-round lightweight bout was moved up from its already scheduled preliminary spot.
Davies-Barroso was previously approved by the WBA as an interim title fight. Davies is the mandatory challenger to full WBA junior welterweight titlist Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero (15-1, 13KOs), who is injured and unable to honor the sanctioning body-ordered bout.
Barroso was already en route to Houston for this weekend’s show but will be limited to ringside spectator. Davies was eventually approved for his visa, which will have to be applied to the rescheduled bout sometime in the first quarter of 2024.
“Slight delay, thanks to the USA embassy for working quickly and efficiently to issue me a Visa to travel to [the U.S.] to box,” Davies stated Wednesday evening. “I’ll be collecting the passport this week and the rescheduled fight with Barroso will be announced within the next few days. Big up the US.”
Davies moved into title contention with a ninth-round knockout of Lewis Ritson in their March 4 title eliminator in Newcastle, England.
Barroso was the long overdue mandatory challenger in waiting but landed his title shot by chance.
Romero was previously due to challenge unbeaten titlist Alberto Puello, who was stripped of the belt after he tested positive for Clomiphene ahead of their canceled May 13 main event in Las Vegas. Barroso instead faced Romero for the vacant title and was in control through eight rounds before he suffered a highly controversial ninth-round stoppage.
Despite the ambitious tweet by De La Hoya, Boxing Scene has learned that the rescheduled date for Davies-Barroso is still very much up in the air as this goes to publication. Golden Boy has a Fight Night prospect-based show scheduled for December 14 in Indio, California and a January 6 primary date headlined by Vergil Ortiz in Las Vegas.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox