Austin 'Ammo' Williams would've spent the best part of four months preparing for an unbeaten fighter as his quest for a maiden world championship opportunity drew closer but now, he enters fight week with a replacement opponent in Ivan Vazquez to deal with.
Italy's unbeaten contender
Etinosa Oliha (21-0, 9 KOs) is unable to proceed with an IBF-ordered middleweight title eliminator against the American (18-1, 12 KOs)
this weekend, after an issue with his eye examination during the pre-fight medical process was flagged.
BoxingScene were first to report the development overnight.
Vazquez has flickered between weight divisions and been rather inactive despite his unbeaten record, only boxing five times since December 2021. Williams by contrast, will be making his 16th appearance since that month this weekend if all goes to plan as expected.
Matchroom have yet to publicly address the news with official confirmation, but will almost certainly do so during today's media day scheduled to start at 2pm ET (7pm BST).
Saturday on DAZN (7pm ET, 12am BST, $14.99), Ring and WBC champion
Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez seeks to claim another junior bantamweight title against WBO titlist
Phumelela Cafu, topping Matchroom's latest foray stateside featuring Diego Pacheco's long-awaited return and two highly-rated new pros - Amari Jones and Nishant Dev in six-round action.