Jamel Herring’s July 2 WBO junior lightweight title defense against Jonathan Oquendo has been postponed after Herring announced that he tested positive for COVID-19 last week.
The Herring-Oquendo bout was scheduled to headline next Thursday’s Top Rank card on ESPN. Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti says an attempt is being made to move a junior welterweight battle between Jose Pedraza (26-3, 13 KOs) and Mikkel LesPierre (22-1-1, 10 KOs) into that slot on July 2.
Last week, I tested positive for COVID-19. That’s the bad news.
The good news however is, I feel ok and have self-isolated until I receive a clean bill of health. My WBO Junior Lightweight world title defense against Jonathan Oquendo will be rescheduled shortly.
Semper Fi 👑
— Jamel Herring (@JamelHerring) June 23, 2020
Top Rank hopes to reschedule the Herring-Oquendo fight for July 14 if Herring is cleared by that point.
The Pedraza-LesPierre fight was originally scheduled as the ESPN main event on June 18 before LesPierre’s manager tested positive for COVID-19 leading up to the fight. New Top Rank guidelines now restrict fighters from other promotion companies from bringing their manager to a bout in the bubble.
Herring-Oquendo is the fourth Top Rank fight to be postponed due to a positive coronavirus test since boxing returned earlier this month.