For the second time in less than three months, Avery Sparrow’s attempt to soar has miserably failed to get off the ground.
The 25-year old junior lightweight has been pulled from a scheduled undercard appearance on Saturday’s DAZN-streamed show in Indio, California, two sources on site have confirmed to BoxingScene.com. Philadelphia’s Sparrow (10-1, 3KOs) was due to face New York-based prospect James Wilkins but is now a medical scratch after having been hospitalized due to dehydration.
The rest of the show remains intact, including the junior lightweight title fight rematch between defending champ Andrew Cancio (21-4-2, 16KOs) and mandatory challenger Rene Alvarado (31-8, 20KOs).
Sparrow was granted a slot on the Golden Boy Promotions event 10 weeks after a planned showdown with unbeaten rising contender Ryan Garcia ended with the Philly native being apprehended and jailed prior to the weigh in for the Sept. 14 show in Carson, California.
The arrest was due to an outstanding warrant for a weapon possession charge in April. Sparrow was extradited to Philadelphia, but had moved far enough beyond his legal issues to proceed with his career. That next step will no longer take place this weekend, as Sparrow reportedly fell ill and passed out earlier this week, at which point he was hospitalized and treated for dehydration and other related physical concerns.
Sparrow’s handlers declined comment to BoxingScene.com.
The unfortunate casualty in all of this is Wilkins, as the New Yorker will be removed from Saturday’s show altogether and likely resurface on one of the several scheduled Golden Boy shows in the near future.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox