Losing out on a payday and fight opportunity was less bothersome to Jose Pedraza than the manner in which he learned of the news.
The former two-division titlist missed out on an ESPN headliner neither through any fault of his own nor his scheduled opponent, Mikkel LesPierre. The June 18 headliner - to have aired live from MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas - was scrapped on the morning of the fight after LesPierre’s manager, Jose Taveras tested positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
While the development was shocking, it was more so troubling for Pedraza who woke up Thursday morning ready to fight later that evening only to learn otherwise after his first phone call of the day.
“I’m [still] extremely frustrated,” Pedraza (26-3, 13KOs) told BoxingScene.com. “I was asleep [when news broke of the fight being pulled from the show]. I called my wife, and she asked what was happening with my fight… that was all over the internet that my fight was canceled.
“I looked it up and saw my fight was canceled. I called my publicist, Gardy Lopez and he told me it was true.”
Per Nevada commission protocol, all team members of any party who tests positive for the infectious disease are immediately removed from their scheduled show as well as the isolated site. Pedraza and LesPierre (22-1-1, 10KOs) both tested negative throughout the promotion, including as recent as Wednesday following their official weigh-in but were at the mercy of the current COVID policy in place.
It was a devastating blow to both boxers, particularly Pedraza who—through no fault of his own—has now lost out on two scheduled fight dates.
The 31-year old from Cidra, Puerto Rico—whom represented his island in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and has since won pro titles at 130- and 135-pounds—was due to face California’s Javier Molina (22-2, 9KOs) on a May 9 show in Fresno to have been headlined by regional here and unified 140-pound titlist Jose Ramirez (25-0, 17KOs). The card was among several springtime shows to be removed from the schedule due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Rather than landing in the ring one month later, Pedraza is now forced to wait at least another four weeks to resume his career.
“It’s been nine months of waiting [to fight] and I’m just very frustrated,” notes Pedraza, who has not fought since a 10-round points loss to current top-10 junior welterweight contender Jose Zepeda last September. “They mentioned July 14 as a possibility [to reschedule] the fight. I just hope the date isn’t taken.”
As previously reported by BoxingScene.com senior writer Keith Idec, Top Rank—Pedraza’s promoter—plans to have the bout serve atop the aforementioned date, live on ESPN. The fight will be paired with another rescheduled matchup to have fallen prey to COVID-19, with 2016 U.S. Olympian and current unbeaten junior lightweight contender Mikaela Mayer (12-0, 5KOs) due to face Nigeria’s Helen Joseph (17-4-2, 10KOs).
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
