Rafael Marquez out of fight
Rafael Marquez of Mexico has for the third time postponed a fight with fellow former junior featherweight titlist Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. of Puerto Rico, promoter Peter Rivera of PR Best Boxing Promotions announced Monday.
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Marquez (41-7, 37 KOs) was scheduled to face Vazquez (21-2-1, 18 KOs) in the main event of an Aug. 4 pay-per-view card at the Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, Vazquez's hometown. However, the show was postponed after Marquez suffered a right hand injury in training.
The fight was rescheduled for Oct. 6 but has been called off again. However, the card will still go on, Rivera said. Jonathan Oquendo (22-2, 15 KOs), who was scheduled to face Jose Nieves on the undercard, will instead move up into the scheduled 12-round main event to take the place of Marquez, the former bantamweight champion and younger brother of Juan Manuel Marquez.
Oquendo has not fought since last October because of an ATV accident in Puerto Rico. The crash with another vehicle killed Oquendo's girlfriend and left him with minor injuries.
"Rafael Marquez is facing health problems and working on some personal issues and will not fight against Wilfredo Vazquez Jr.," Rivera said. "Now, we are going to make Vazquez Jr. against Oquendo, a fight long awaited by Puerto Rican fans."
In the co-feature, former longtime strawweight champion Ivan "Iron Boy" Calderon of Puerto Rico will challenge titleholder Moises Fuentes of Mexico for his old belt. Calderon (35-2-1, 6 KOs) held a strawweight title from 2003 until 2007 before he vacated the belt and moved up to the junior flyweight division and won a world title in August 2007.
After six defenses, Calderon lost his title via eight-round knockout to Giovani Segura in a title unification bout in August 2010. Segura stopped him again, this time in the third round, of an October 2011 rematch. At that point, Calderon, 37, decided to return to the strawweight division -- the 105-pound weight class that is boxing's smallest -- and won a decision against Felipe Rivas last October, setting the stage for his shot against Fuentes.
Fuentes (15-1, 7 KOs), 26, claimed his title -- the same one Calderon used to hold -- last August with a split decision win against Raul Garcia. Fuentes has made one defense, a first-round knockout of Julio Cesar Felix in June.
Also on the card, Jose "Chelo" Gonzalez (20-0, 15 KOs) will meet Eudy Bernardo (13-0, 8 KOs) in a lightweight fight and former Puerto Rican Olympic heavyweight Victor Bisbal (20-1, 14 KOs) fights Alex Gonzalez (20-7, 10 KOs).
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