Pablo Cesar Cano scratched from card after Gomez injury

Jul

Pablo Cesar Cano lands a right hand to the iron jaw of Juan Carlos Abreu during their 10-round fight on Feb. 27, 2015. Cano won a majority decision. Photo by Naoki Fukuda

The 10-round bout that was scheduled to take place this Friday night between welterweights Alfonso Gomez and Pablo Cesar Cano is off, Golden Boy Promotions matchmaker Robert Diaz confirmed to RingTV over the weekend.

Gomez reportedly suffered an injury to his right elbow during training camp last week, forcing him to withdraw from the fight.

“Rather than look for an opponent for Cano, I’m just going to scratch the fight off the card,” Diaz said to RingTV. Cano was originally scheduled to face Keandre Gibson but the unbeaten prospect reportedly also suffered an injury to his right elbow on June 21.

The new main event will be a featherweight bout between former contenders Jayson Velez and Rene Alvarado.

The 10-round bout will take place at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California. In the co-feature bout, unbeaten welterweight Rashidi Ellis (15-0, 11 knockouts) and Luis Hernandez (13-1, 7 KOs) will square off in an eight-round bout.

The “Boxeo Estelar” broadcast will also feature the pro debut of junior featherweight Cesar Diaz.

Estrella TV will broadcast all three fights, beginning at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.

It is a must-win fight between Velez and Alvarado. Both have lost their last two bouts and another loss could relegate either to gatekeeper status.

Velez (23-2-1, 16 KOs), who hails from Puerto Rico, is coming off back-to-back losses to Ronny Rios and Joseph Diaz Jr.

Alvarado (23-7, 16 KOs) also suffered a decision loss to Diaz but has faced the better opposition than Velez. Alvarado has lost to Manuel “Tino” Avila, Eric Hunter and Rocky Juarez but holds a knockout win over featherweight contender/spoiler Robinson Castellanos.

RingTVLive.com will air the entire Golden Boy Promotions card, beginning at 5:30 p.m. PT.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper, BoxingScene.com and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at[email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing.