By Elisinio Castillo
According to sources with knowledge of the details, BoxingScene.com has been advised that WBA lightweight champion Richar Abril (19-3-1, 8KOs) will not go forward with his scheduled fight against Derry Mathews (37-9-2, 20KOs) on April 18th at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.
This would mark the second time where Abril withdrew from the Mathews fight and the Cuban fighter has withdrawn from other scheduled contests as well.
The WBA is reportedly going to strip Abril and make him a "champion in recess" for inactivity. Abril has barely been averaging one fight per year.
There is talk that Mathews will instead face knockout artist Ismael Barroso (17-0, 16KOs) of Venezuela for the vacant WBA belt. The fight is being evaluated by the sanctioning body for approval. Barroso, ranked at #15 by the WBA, has stopped his last eight opponents.
