The fight between Ryan Garcia and Avery Sparrow has been suddenly canceled because Sparrow was arrested Friday mere hours before his scheduled weigh-in, Russell Peltz, Sparrow’s promoter, told BoxingScene.com.

As a result, Ryan Garcia will not be fighting tomorrow night, and Sparrow is currently in jail and will be extradited to Philadelphia to be in front of a judge on Monday.

According to Peltz, there was a warrant out for Sparrow’s arrest for a domestic dispute that took place in Philadelphia in April 2019 where Sparrow allegedly brandished a firearm on a woman. The incident occurred after a woman threw Sparrow’s clothes out of a window, and there were other people involved. However, Sparrow was never served any papers following the incident because he doesn’t own or rent property and is not listed under any address.

Sparrow was out running in Los Angeles on Friday morning with his entourage to shed the last few pounds off his frame for the lightweight bout. Suddenly, police cars started circling the area. Sparrow and his friends got in their cars and went inside a local Target, and after leaving the store, they were surrounded by police, and a helicopter. 

“You might as well have thought they shot the president,” said Peltz.

Sparrow was arrested and taken to Men's Central Jail, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department county jail.

“I’d seen the video in April and told him to ‘watch out who he’s hanging out with,’” said Peltz, moments after the fight was called off. “I was notified Tuesday night when we were in the van on the way from the airport to the hotel in Los Angeles that there was a warrant out for his arrest.”

Peltz said he called his lawyer George Bochetto in Philadelphia, a respected attorney who once ran for Mayor. Bochetto got in contact with the Philadelphia detective and supervisor who was handling the case, and they verbally agreed—not in writing—to have Sparrow (10-1, 3 KOs) fight Saturday, and hold his purse until he showed up in front of a judge in Philadelphia for a court hearing on Monday.

“Avery was going to show up on Monday one thousand percent, or else he wasn’t going to get paid,” said Peltz, noting that Sparrow’s purse against Garcia was larger than all of his previous fights combined in his career. “He was scheduled to fly back Sunday.”

Shortly after Sparrow was arrested, Garcia successfully stepped on the scales at the 135-pound limit for their co-main event fight, which was supposed to chief support to the Jaime Munguia versus Patrick Allotey fight o DAZN.

Garcia took the microphone and asked, “I just want to know where [Sparrow’s] at. He talked a lot, and I don’t see him here … I just wanted this fight. Somebody call him. Somebody ring him up. Let’s fight. Let’s get it on.”

During the final press conference on Tuesday in Carson, Calif., Peltz was uneasy before he took the dais, admitting he was afraid that the US Marshal might just storm right there and then in search of Sparrow.

Peltz and Bochetto reached out to the US Marshal to see why they went back on their word, and Peltz said the US Marshal texted back claiming his hands were tied.

Peltz said either the Philly detective didn’t contact their office, or the deal was overridden by somebody else, and there was nothing else that could be done.

Sparrow told Peltz he’ll need representation because he could be put in jail and wants to be bailed out.

“He knows the system is stacked for people like him,” said Peltz. “I thought I’d seen it all in my 50 years in boxing. He was brimming with confidence for this fight. He was hopping, skipping and jumping through the airport corridors on Tuesday. I’d never seen him that happy or high on life. Dealing with something like this is a first for me. Outside of Avery, no one is sicker about this than I am.”

The rest of the Golden Boy fight card in Carson will go on as planned.

Manouk Akopyan has been a member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011 and has written for the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the Guardian and Philadelphia Inquirer. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk.akopyan@gmail.com.