By Jake Donovan

SAN ANTONIO - It was meant to be the toughest test of his career to date, but all that Dominic Breazeale is left with is a heaping dose of disappointment and nothing to show for the air miles racked up this week.

Breazeale was originally due to face Charles Martin in a matchup of unbeaten heavyweights. Those plans fell apart earlier this week, when Martin was pulled from the show in favor of an ordered vacant title fight with Vyacheslav Glazkov, with a purse bid hearing scheduled for Friday, Dec. 18.

Unable to secure a quality – and approvable – opponent in time, the decision was made to drop Breazeale from the card altogether. The news was revealed on site during the final pre-fight conference held Thursday afternoon at Hyatt Regency in San Antonio.

Tentative plans call for the 30-year old from California to reappear on a PBC or Showtime-televised card in January, though for the moment remains an idea more so than etched in stone.

The rest of Saturday’s show remains intact. Headlining the NBC portion (Saturday, 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. local time), Omar Figueroa of Weslaco, Texas puts his unbeaten record on the line versus Mexico’s Antonio DeMarco in a battle of former lightweight champions. Also on the televised card, Chris Arreola faces former sparring partner Travis Kauffman in a heavyweight crossroads clash.

The domino effect behind Breazeale-Martin falling apart began late last week. Specifically affecting this matchup was Tyson Fury being stripped of the International Boxing Federation (IBF) title as he is unable to defend versus Glazkov, instead locked into a contracted rematch with Wladimir Klitschko, whom he conquered in November to win the World heavyweight championship and a slew of alphabet belts to go along with the feat.

With the IBF title now up for grabs, Martin and his team felt it was in his best interest to instead go straight to a purse bid hearing with Glazkov rather than run the risk of suffering an injury – or a loss – versus Breazeale beforehand.

Many viewed Breazeale-Martin as a pick-‘em matchup going in. The only view Breazeale has now is from the sidelines while his previously scheduled opponent is granted a shortcut to the heavyweight title landscape.

Efforts were made to keep Breazeale on the show, with the California-based boxer attending a media workout session on Wednesday and remaining in good spirits. However, inability to secure an approved foe on short notice ultimately resulted in his formally being removed from this weekend's show.

Breazeale was not available for comment, as he was already heading back home on Thursday rather than sticking around for the remainder of a fight week that no longer requires his services in the ring.

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox