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Luevano suffers training camp injury
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By Dan Rafael
ESPN.com
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Featherweight titlist Steven Luevano suffered a training injury late last week and withdrew Tuesday from his May 2 fight against Bernabe Concepcion, manager Cameron Dunkin told ESPN.com.
Luevano was scheduled to make his fifth title defense against the Philippines' Concepcion (28-1-1, 16 KOs), 21, on the Ricky Hatton-Manny Pacquiao HBO PPV undercard at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. However, Dunkin said Luevano began to experience pain in his torso while training several days ago.
"He's a tough guy and he was trying to continue and to work through it, but he couldn't continue," Dunkin said.
Dunkin said the exact nature of the problem has not yet been diagnosed but that Luevano was seeing a doctor later Tuesday for an exam and diagnosis.
"I know Steven and he wanted this fight," Dunkin said. "He's been in camp for seven weeks already getting ready."
Top Rank will replace the bout on the televised portion of the card it is co-promoting with Golden Boy. It may turn to junior lightweight titleholder Humberto Soto (47-7-2, 30 KOs), who blew away Antonio Davis in the fourth round to retain his title in his first defense last Saturday night on Top Rank's "Tijuana Thunder" pay-per-view undercard.
"We're disappointed for Steven," Top Rank president Todd duBoef told ESPN.com. "He was looking forward to fighting on the show. He's probably the best featherweight in the world and he was in a very solid fight with Concepcion. Hopefully, we can reschedule it for another day once he's healthy."
Luevano (36-1-1, 15 KOs), 28, of La Puente, Calif., has never before pulled out of a fight in his career, Dunkin said.
Luevano has been a staple of Top Rank's major pay-per-view undercards, last defending his belt via unanimous decision against Australia's Billy Dib on Oct. 18 on the undercard of Bernard Hopkins' victory against Kelly Pavlik.
This is bull****.
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