By Dan Ambrose: As reported earlier, Jorge Linares tested positive cor COVID-19, and he won’t be fighting Javier Fortuna on August 28 in their scheduled contest on DAZN at the Fantasy Springs Casino & Resort in Indio, California. Mike Coppinger says Fortuna wants to stay on the card and fight.
Like a real trooper, Fortuna (35-2-1, 24 KOs) still wants to fight on that date, and he’s let Golden Boy Promotions know. Javier wants to keep busy by taking the August 28 date against anyone Golden Boy can find for him, and then face Linares once he recovers from his illness.
Golden Boy needs to try and salvage the date, as that would be the second consecutive month in which the company has seen their fight cards disintegrate.
Ryan Garcia was supposed to headline Golden Boy’s July 4th card, but he turned down the offer they had for him. Fortuna was supposed to be Garcia’s opponent for that date.
That would have been a hard fight for King Ryan, and he might have lost. It’s no wonder why he wanted as much as he could get.
Fortuna wants to fight Linares later
“Golden Boy is trying to save the date. I’m willing to fight anyone who steps to the plate who is accepted by the WBC and DAZN, and when I’m victorious, I hope to fight Linares. I wish him well in recovery,” said Fortuna to The Athletic.
Golden Boy has three weeks to attempt to find Fortuna a good opponent for the August 28 card at the Fantasy Springs. One great solution would be for them to talk with Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn about getting WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney to face Fortuna.
This week, Haney posted on social media a group of that he said were ducking him. Among the names was Fortuna. If Haney believes Fortuna is ducking him, he should offer to step in and take the August 28 fight.
Fortuna would be a considerable step up for Haney from the opposition he’s been facing during his short career.
Another option for Fortuna will be Luke Campbell if he doesn’t fight Ryan Garcia. Those two are in negotiations right now. However, there’s always the possibility that the fight will fail to get made. With Ryan, anything is possible.
Linares, 34, wanted to use the Fortuna clash to get either a title shot against Haney or a match against the Ryan Garcia vs. Luke Campbell winner. Now he’s going to need to wait and see who his promoters at Teiken fan find for him once he’s recovered from his illness.
The former WBA super featherweight champion Fortuna has won his last two fights beating Sharif Bogere and Jesus Cuellar.