By Miguel Rivera
More bad luck for Puerto Rican lightweight star Felix "Diamante" Verdejo.
The undefeated pugilist was removed from the top position under the rankings of the World Boxing Organization (WBO) rankings. He was dropped all the way to the sixth position. Dangerous contender Raymundo Beltran is now sitting in the mandatory slot, which puts him in line for a crack at WBO lightweight king Terry "Turbo" Flanagan of the UK.
Last year, Verdejo was involved in a motorcycle accident and suffered numerous injuries that derailed a planned fight with WBO champion Terry Flanagan in the fall. The fight was initially eyed for earlier this year and then targeted for this fall, but it continued to get pushed back and the WBO has finally lost it's patience.
Verdejo, 24, was scheduled to face Antonio Lozada on September 22 in Tucson, Arizona - but then his manager and trainer, Ricky Marquez, revealed that his boxer injured his right wrist while showering at a training facility in Big Bear, California - and as a result he was forced to withdraw from the bout.
Verdejo has looked lackluster in his last few fights, which is why he was sent to Big Bear, California to train.
He's been inactive since February 2, when he defeated Oliver Flores by unanimous decision. That had been his first fight since his motorbike accident on August 7, 2016.
"He slipped in the tub and when he fell he twisted his right wrist ," Marquez said to Jose Sanchez a few weeks ago when Verdejo withdrew from his fight. "We took him to a doctor in Big Bear and because of the swelling he told us [Felix] should go two to three weeks without using it. The main thing is going to be to immobilize him until he recovers. When he is recovered, we will see when we return to the ring."