By Allan Fox: Heavyweight contender Johathon Banks (29-1-1, 19 KO’s) has reportedly suffered a thumb injury and he won’t be able to make his scheduled February 16th rematch against Seth Mitchell (25-1, 19 KO’s) on the undercard of the Adrien Broner vs. Gavin Rees card at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
So instead of the Banks-Mitchell fight as the co-main event on the card, the WBC super middleweight eliminator bout between Sakio Bika (30-5-2, 21 KO’s) and Nikola Sjekloca (25-0, 7 KO’s) will be moved up to fill the spot.
There’s no real loss because Banks-Mitchell was going to likely be a repeat of their previous fight last November where Banks destroyed Mitchell by a 2nd round knockout.
According to RingTV, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is reporting that Banks broke his thumb while training for the Mitchell rematch. Given that injuries of that nature take a long time to heal for boxers, it’s going to be a while before the Banks will be able to get back in the ring. It’s unclear whether Mitchell will still be interested in facing Banks, but it’s likely he will because it’s going to be tough for him to move on with a 2nd round knockout loss on his resume.
The Bika- Sjekloca winner will be facing former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute for the vacant World Boxing Council 168 lb. title in the near future.
There’s been talk of the fight possibly taking place on May 25th, the same date as the unification bout between IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch and WBA champ Mikkel Kessler, but that’s still up in the air. It won’t give the Bika-Sjekloca winner much time to recover from their February 16th fight, and if the winner of that fight receives a cut, it’s not going to be healed in time for them to fight on May 25th against Bute.
Comments are closed.