Kenshiro Teraji’s quest to become a three-division titleholder will have to wait until the new year.
Willibalo Garcia, 23-6-2 (13 KOs), was admitted to the hospital just hours after officially making weight for his planned first defense of the IBF 115lbs title. As a result, his clash with Teraji, 25-2 (16 KOs), will no longer move forward as previously scheduled for this Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“Willibaldo Garcia’s IBF World Super Flyweight Title fight against Kenshiro Teraji has been cancelled,” Matchroom Boxing confirmed in a statement passed along via third party to BoxingScene. “Garcia fell ill following today’s Ceremonial Weigh-In and was subsequently admitted to hospital. After medical evaluation, Garcia has been declared unfit to fight by the local boxing commission.”
Event handlers were in scramble mode to secure an emergency replacement to face Teraji, the former two-division champ, who wanted to remain on the card.
Turki Alalshikh, whose Riyadh Season group is financing the Ring V: Night of the Samurai DAZN pay-per-view event, solicited his 7,100,000 followers on X to put him in touch with representatives for Moussa Mouhoub, 3-1 (1 KO), and Murtda Ziemalabden, 1-0 (1 KOs).
“Good evening,” Alalshikh posted in a cryptic announcement regarding the fight. “We have a boxer today who got injured and can’t box tomorrow in the 115-pound weight class, and the Japanese champion boxer doesn’t want him (sic) to return to Japan without boxing.
“I found [these Arab champions from Algeria and Sudan, respectively]; who can point us to him so we can try to bring [them] to box tomorrow if… ready?”
Regardless of whether either is secured as an opponent, Teraji is no longer in line to challenge for the IBF title. It is not believed that Garcia is at risk of being stripped of the belt, since it was a planned voluntary defense.
However, he will be on the hook for a mandatory title defense against former secondary titleholder Andrew Moloney once he’s fit to fight.
Garcia and Teraji had both made the 115lbs limit for their planned showdown.
Garcia checked in at 113.9lbs for the first defense of the belt he claimed in a win over countryman Rene Calixto in their vacant title fight rematch this past May. Teraji was 114.5lbs for his first fight since he lost his WBA and WBC flyweight titles to Ricardo Sandoval this past July in Yokohama, Japan.
Per IBF rules, both boxers were required to also submit to a same-day weight check, where participants in its sanctioned fights cannot weigh more than 10lbs above the contracted limit. However, Garcia was instead rushed to the hospital shortly after the ceremonial weigh-in, which canceled those plans.
The development marks the second title fight to fall off this show. As previously reported by BoxingScene, Hayato Tsutsumi, 8-0 (5 KOs) suffered an eye injury during training camp, which left him unfit to challenge WBA 130lbs titlist James “Jazza” Dickens, 36-5 (15 KOs). No replacement was sought, which forced Dickens off the show altogether.
It whittles Saturday’s card down to one major title fight – undisputed 122lbs champion Naoya Inoue, 31-0 (27 KOs), in a defense against Mexico’s Alan David Picasso, 32-0-1 (17 KOs). The event also features unbeaten former three-division champion Junto Nakatani, 31-0 (24 KOs), versus Mexico’s Sebastian Hernandez, 20-0 (18 KOs), in a non-title fight at 122lbs.
Per event coordinators, the DAZN PPV will now air one hour later at 5:00 a.m. ET/2:00 a.m. PT.
