Marquez ruled out of tonight's ‘ShoBox’ opening bout due to 'cognitive issues'
Showtime also announces Feb. 17 quadrupleheader
What was once a quadrupleheader is now down to a doubleheader as the “ShoBox: The New Generation” card Wednesday night (Showtime, 9 ET/PT) took another hit on fight day.
Featherweight Pedro Marquez (12-1, 8 KOs), 26, of Puerto Rico, who was due to fight Martino Jules (10-0, 2 KOs), 23, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, in an eight-rounder to open the telecast at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, has been ruled out of the bout for medical reasons.
“In the best interest of Pedro Marquez’s health and safety, his fight against Martino Jules has been postponed,” promoters Paco Damian and Sampson Lewkowicz said in a statement. “Marquez experienced some cognitive issues this morning and we sent him to be examined at a local hospital. Under the advice of doctors, we made the difficult decision to call off his fight. We are saddened for both fighters as we know how hard they have worked for this tremendous opportunity. We wish Marquez a speedy recovery and look forward to getting both fighters back in the ring soon.”
The show will go on with junior welterweight Yeis Solano (15-0, 10 KOs), 28, of Colombia, facing Mykquan Williams (15-0-1, 7 KOs), 22, of East Hartford, Connecticut, in the 10-round main event and Panama’s Jose Nunez (11-0-1, 4 KOs), 22, facing Armenia native Aram Avagyan (10-0-1, 4 KOs), 30, in an eight-round junior lightweight bout.
Originally, the show was supposed to be headlined by a junior middleweight bout between Hurshidbek Normatov against Patrick Cora before Normatov tested positive two weeks ago and the fight was canceled.
Lineup for Feb. 17 card
On the same day as the change was made to the Wednesday night card, Showtime also announced a Feb. 17 quadrupleheader, which will also take place at Mohegan Sun Arena.
In the main event of the Salita Promotions card, welterweight Mark Reyes Jr. (14-0, 12 KOs), 24, of Tampa, and Janelson Bocachica (16-0, 11 KOs), 22, of Detroit will meet in a 10-rounder.
In the co-feature, Detroit-based Russia native Vladimir Shishkin (11-0, 7 KOs), 29, will face Sena Agbeko (23-1, 18 KOs), 28, of Ghana, in a 10-round super middleweight fight.
Also, Alejandro Guerrero (12-0, 9 KOs), 22, of Houston, will face Abraham Montoya (19-2-1, 14 KOs), 26, of Mexico, in an eight-round lightweight bout and Timur Kerefov (9-0, 4 KOs), 30, another Russian based in Detroit, will square off with southpaw Argenis Espana (15-1, 14 KOs), 31, of Venezuela, in the eight-round opener.