Unified junior welterweight world titlist Jose Ramirez’s mandatory defense against Viktor Postol, scheduled for Feb. 1 as the main event of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card at Mission Hills Haikou resort in Haikou, China, is in jeopardy because of the outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus in China.
“The chances are the fight will be canceled,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum told ESPN on Thursday. “ESPN let us know they didn’t want to send their crew over to China given the circumstances, and the health authorities keep closing airports because of this virus. Nobody wants to put anybody’s health in jeopardy. We will make a decision (Friday).”
Haikou is a city on the Chinese island province of Hainan and “people have to fly there from the rest of China and a lot of those flights are being canceled. It’s a serious situation,” Arum said. “I was supposed to go over there on Tuesday. But we’re going to review it tonight and we’ll have a decision (Friday).”
Arum said he thought Postol was already in China. Ramirez was issued a 24-hour hold before going. He and his team were supposed to fly to China from Los Angeles on Thursday night.
“We were told (by Ramirez manager Rick Mirigian) not to go to the airport and they would let us know in 24 hours,” Robert Garcia, Ramirez’s trainer, told ESPN. “I really don’t know what will happen. I think more likely than not it will be rescheduled in the United States in the next few weeks, but as of right now they told us just not to take our flight and they will let us know. Because of the virus it might be too risky. We were in the gym this morning and Jose is ready for the fight.”
Arum said if the fight is indeed called off, it likely would be rescheduled in the United States.
“We’d have to get a location to have the fight and clear a date with ESPN,” Arum said. “All of those things have to be done. It’s a bummer but better safe than sorry if that’s what happens.”
Ramirez (25-0, 17 KOs), 27, of Avenal, California, is due to make his fourth title defense since winning a vacant 140-pound belt against Amir Imam in March 2018. Ramirez is coming off his biggest win, a sixth-round knockout of Maurice Hooker on Hooker’s turf in Arlington, Texas, on July 27 to unify two world titles.
Postol (31-2, 12 KOs), 36, of Ukraine, a former world titleholder, outpointed Mohamed Mimoune in Las Vegas on April 27 in a title eliminator to become one of Ramirez’s mandatory challengers.