Pedraza has Covid-19, forcing one-month postponement of fight with Ramirez
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Junior welterweight contender Jose “Sniper” Pedraza has tested positive for Covid-19, forcing the postponement of his fight with former unified titleholder Jose Ramirez, Top Rank announced on Monday.
The scheduled 12-rounder, initially slated to headline a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN+ card on Feb. 5 at the Save Mart Center in Ramirez’s home region of Fresno, California, will instead move to March 4 at the same venue. The entire Feb. 5 card is postponed with at least some of the undercard bouts moving along with the main event.
Ramirez (26-1, 17 KOs), 29, of Avenal, California, will be returning to the ring for the first time since getting knocked down twice and losing a close unanimous decision — 114-112 on all three scorecards — to Josh Taylor in fight for the undisputed 140-pound championship on May 22 in Las Vegas.
Former lightweight and junior lightweight world titlist Pedraza (29-3, 14 KOs), 32, of Puerto Rico, will be seeking a fourth consecutive victory since a 10-round decision loss to contender Jose Zepeda in September 2019.
The co-feature will pit former featherweight title challengers Joet Gonzalez (24-2, 14 KOs), 28, of Los Angeles, who recently signed with Top Rank, and Jeo Santisima (21-3, 18 KOs), 25, of the Philippines, in a 10-rounder.
The card will also include the professional debut of Richard Torrez Jr., 22, of nearby Tulare, California, who claimed the super heavyweight silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics this past summer to culminate an amateur career in which he went 154-10. He will face an opponent to be determined in a six-rounder.
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Getting vaccinated is an individual choice. But at which point do promoters stop scheduling un-vaxxed Boxers? I’m not saying this was the case with Pedraza btw. I have Tix to this card. And now I have wait another month. Also this card has been moved from a Saturday to a Friday. That makes it more difficult for fans living outside of Fresno to attend due to the normal work schedule.
Is there a solid rule, anything uniform and accross the board mandatory conditions IF a fighter tests positive as far as time, re-schedule by certain date. Or is it all whatever the promoters decide at the moment of each case individually ......... maybe it falls under the injury rules ?