Madrimov (bronchitis) withdraws from Dec. 21 bout vs. Bohachuk

Madrimov (bronchitis) withdraws from Dec. 21 bout vs. Bohachuk 1 | ASL

Former junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov has acute bronchitis and has withdrawn from his Dec. 21 fight vs. Serhii Bohachuk in Riyadh, , Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, announced Saturday.

The 154-pound fight was set to serve as the chief-support bout to the highly anticipated -Tyson Fury heavyweight championship rematch.

Uzbekistan’s Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) remains scheduled to fight Vergil Ortiz on the Feb. 22 undercard of the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol rematch in Riyadh, Alalshikh said.

There was doubt Madrimov, 29, would be ready for such a high-stakes fight just two months later. Madrimov is ESPN’s No. 2 junior middleweight and Ortiz is No. 5. Ortiz is coming off a controversial decision victory over Bohachuk in August.

Ukraine’s Bohachuk (24-2, 23 KOs) will now fight Ishmael Davis. Bohachuk, 29, is ESPN’s No. 6 junior middleweight.

England’s Davis (13-1, 6 KOs) is coming off a September decision loss to Josh Kelly, the first defeat of the 29-year-old’s career.

Madrimov dropped a close decision to in August.

Source: espn.com