By Kenneth Friedman: WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez has a throat infection and will need to postpone his August 15 title defense against #1 WBC McWilliams Arroyo until September. Martinez vs. Arroyo is a Matchroom Boxing promoted card, and it was set to be shown on DAZN from downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The 25-year-old Martinez won’t be able to train for ten days due to his illness, according to ESPN MX.
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn is expected to give a new date for Martinez (16-1, 12 KOs) and Arroyo (20-4, 15 KOs) to battle it out. The need for this fight to be rescheduled is disappointing news, but it’s only one month delay.
That’s one positive. DAZN is streaming three exciting fights during August, and you hate to lose a compelling match-up like Martinez-Arroyo. For American boxing fans, this fight one of the best that DAZN had on their schedule for August.
Julio Cesar Martinez with star potential
Martinez’s clash with the 2008 Olympian Arroyo would have been Matchroom’s first in the U.S since last February when they did the Mikey Garcia vs. Jessie Vargas fight in Frisco, Texas. However, that fight was a mismatch and not an exciting one to watch.
Hearn wants to have Martinez unify the 112-pound division, and that’s something he’ll be working on in 2021. To turn Martinez into a superstar, Hearn has got to put him in with the best in the flyweight division.
If Martinez can move up to super flyweight, he’ll be able to take on Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Martinez and Juan Francisco Estrada.
Martinez’s match against Arroyo promised a lot more two-way action from start to finish. Martinez is one of those fighters that is NEVER in a dull fight, even when he’s dominating someone. It’s still thrilling to watch him fight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_XrYpUR9IA
Some of Martinez’s recent victories:
- Jay Harris
- Cristofer Rosales
- Charlie Edwards
- Andrew Selby
- Irvin Ordaz
Hearn said recently that the young Martinez is one of his favorite fighters in all of boxing. He likes the way Martinez goes after his opponents, looking to knock them out from the opening bell. Martinez has already beaten two Matchroom fighters in Charlie Edwards and Jay Harris in entertaining battles.
Hearn hasn’t said if he’ll look to still go on with the show for the August 15th date. You have to assume the entire card will be moved to a yet to be determined date in September. Martinez’s undercard fights are expected to be moved along with him to September.
Undercard fights for Martinez-Arroyo
- Cecilia Brækhus (36-0 9 KOs) vs. Jessica McCaskill (8-2 3 KOs)
- Shakhram Giyasov (9-0 7 KOs) vs. Francisco Rojo (22-3 15 KOs)
- Nikita Ababiy (8-0, 6 KOs) vs. TBA
- Raymond Ford (5-0 2 KOs) vs. TBA
- Marc Castro vs. TBA
It’s too bad that Matchroom released American heavyweight Michael Hunter from the company, as he would be perfect to be moved into the headliner spot vacated by the ill Julio Cesar Martinez on August 15.
A lot of boxing fans would like to have seen Hunter take on one of Matchroom’s other heavyweights like Filip Hrgovic, Murat Gassiev, David Price, or David Allen.