Barely a week into regularly scheduling events, boxing is struggling to flatten the curve.
For the third time in six days, a boxer has been pulled from a scheduled bout after testing positive for COVID-19. The latest casualty is Silvia Torres, a 29-year old junior flyweight from Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico who was due to appear on the June 20 card from a TV Azteca studio lot in Mexico City.
The development was revealed by event promoter Zanfer Promotions, who announced on Friday that “Silvia 'Guerrerita' Torres produced a positive result in the Covid 19 test to which she was subjected on Thursday morning, so she will not participate in the boxing show that Zanfer will present on Saturday, June 20.”
Torres (20-2-2, 7KO) was due to face Toluca’s Edith de Jesus (7-14, 1KO) in a scheduled eight-round bout. The bout would have been a rematch to their October 2017 meet, which Torres won by 2nd round knockout.
Instead, she will have to head home to self-quarantine for 14 days, per health code.
“Torres was immediately notified and a medical officer has been placed in her care, in accordance with the protocol,” confirmed a Zanfer spokesperson. “The former champion will complete the isolation process in the privacy of her home in Nezahualcóyotl.”
For now, the rest of the show remains intact, though for the moment down to four bouts.
Headlining the card will be reigning 122-pound titlist Emanuel Navarrete (31-1, 27KOs), who will test out his 5’7” frame at featherweight in a scheduled 10-round non-title fight versus countryman Uriel Lopez (13-13-1, 6KOs). The event will air live on ESPN in the United States and TV Azteca in Mexico.
Fittingly, Navarrete and Torres on the same show last December. Navarrete managed the fourth defense of his junior featherweight title reign with a knockout win over Francisco Horta for his first fight back in his home country as a world champion, which doubled as his one-year anniversary as a 122-pound titlist.
Torres’ night didn’t end quite as well, dropping an eight-round split decision on the undercard. The former interim junior flyweight titlist fought to a draw before that, having not won since a 5th round stoppage of Norleidys Graterol last January in Iztacalco.
Torres joins unbeaten junior lightweights Mikaela Mayer (12-0, 5KOs) and Chris Zavala (6-0, 3KOs) among those who’ve produced positive COVID tests. All were due to appear in ESPN bouts, with Mayer having since proven her test to be a false positive but nevertheless removed from a Shakur Stevenson-headlined June 9 card in Las Vegas.
Zavala was scheduled to fight on the undercard of a June 16 show—also in Vegas—headlined by bantamweight contender Joshua Greer Jr.
The June 20 show in Mexico will mark the first of a planned series of Saturday evening shows to air live from TV Azteca grounds. Mexico hosted an independent Pay-Per-View card headlined by former 154-pound titlist Carlos Molina on June 6, the first show to take place in country since March 14.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
