Joeshon James is once again left at the altar.

The Ring has learned that James’ already rescheduled super middleweight clash with Lester Martinez was postponed for a second time. Nicaragua’s Martinez was hit with the flu bug, as was his entire team, which forced the second straight withdrawal from this very matchup.

The two were due to fight this Saturday at Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas. The rest of the show will move forward, including the well-matched main event between local favorite Ramon Cardenas (25-1, 14 KOs), The Ring No. 9 contender, and Mexico’s Bryan Acosta (20-0, 8 KOs).

The Ring has learned of tentative plans to now place Martinez-James on the yet-to-be-announced March 22 show in San Bernardino, California. It will be paired up with a planned WBA junior bantamweight clash between Jasmine Artiga (12-0-1, 6 KOs) and Regina Chavez (8-4-3, 1 KOs). However, the show’s headliner is not yet known as this goes to publication.

Martinez (18-0, 15 KOs) and James (9-0-2, 5 KOs) were originally due to meet on Sept. 11 in Plant City, Florida. They even made weight for their planned main event.

However, Guatemala’s Martinez fell ill shortly after the official weigh-in and was forced to withdraw. Efforts were made to reschedule the bout for later in the year, but the decision was made to instead load up its Feb. 8 show in San Antonio.

Martinez was the The Ring No. 10 super middleweight contender until he was bumped out last fall. The Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntryre-trained contender generated industry-wide attention after his June 28 decision win over veteran contender Carlos Gongora (22-3, 17 KOs) in Washington D.C.

The distance fight snapped a five-fight knockout streak but remains Martinez’ most significant victory to date.

James hoped for a similar breakout opportunity in agreeing to face Martinez. His career has instead stalled in waiting out this particular matchup.

The 26-year-old Sacramento, California native turned heads with a first-round knockout of unbeaten David Stevens, a 13-0 prospect at the time of their Oct. 2023 clash. Stevens is promoted by Golden Boy, who presented the DAZN event from the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California.

James added an eight-round decision over longtime gatekeeper Vaughn Alexander (18-8-1 at the time) on a Feb. 16 in Plant City. The bout was his lone entry of a 2024 campaign otherwise spent awaiting his fight with Martinez to materialize.

That unfortunate trend has now spilled over into his intended 2025 run.