THERE will be one less professional fight on the undercard of Mike Tyson’s exhibition bout against Roy Jones Jr at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Unbeaten British boxer Viddal Riley was set to fight Rashad Coulter, only for the cruiserweight to pick up an injury.
Viddal Riley was been forced to pull out of the fight against Rashad Coulter
He was replaced by Hasim Rahman Jr, but he too has been forced to withdraw.
As a result, Coulter will now not be competing on the huge bill, with a preliminary fight bumped up to be on the main card.
WHY IS VIDDAL RILEY NOT ON THE CARD?
The 23-year-old was forced to pull out after picking up a back injury.
Speaking on his YouTube channel: “It wasn’t an easy decision to make to not fight on that card.
“If you all can see how much of an opportunity this fight was for me, then I can definitely see how much of an opportunity this fight was for myself and my team and my career.
“I’ve had an injury that reoccurred this time last year. I had to pull out of the ‘Tank’ [Gervonta Davis] vs Yuriorkis Gamboa undercard for the same injury, a back injury.
“It is something that is not going anywhere and it is consistently hindering my performance.
“In the lower back I get extreme pain from nerve compression. I went through a stage when I was lifting a lot of weights that I really didn’t need to life.
“It shortened a lot of the muscle bellies for me and also put a lot of compression on the nerves that come off the vertebrae in the spine.”
WHY IS HASIM RAHMAN JR NOT ON THE CARD?
The 9-0 boxer tested negative for COVID-19 earlier in the bill, but nonetheless contracted the deadly bug this week.
And there was no time to find a back-up for him.
It is understood that Coulter will still receive his purse for the fight.
WHAT IS THE UPDATED CARD?
Main card:
- Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr- Heavyweight
- Jake Paul vs. Nate Robinson- Light heavyweight
- Badou Jack vs. Blake McKernan- Light heavyweight
- Jamaine Ortiz vs. Sulaiman Segawa- Vacant WBC USNBC Silver Lightweight title
Undercard:
- Irvin Gonzalez vs. Edward Vazquez- Vacant WBC USNBC Featherweight title
- Juiseppe Cusumano vs. Greg Corbin- Vacant WBC USNBC Heavyweight title
Legendary sports announcer Mauro Ranallo will step in for Al Bernstein as commentator.
Mike Tyson eats Roy Jones Jr’s EAR made of cake and jokes ‘it tastes better than Holyfied’s’
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
