Belfast junior featherweight contender Carl Frampton announced via Twitter on Tuesday that he will be unable to fight Everth Briceno this Saturday at London’s Wembley Stadium as scheduled, due to an ear injury.

Frampton’s tweets read:

“I’m upset to have to announce that I have been ruled out of my fight on Saturday by the BBBofC. An old injury mildly reoccurred in a spar. A specialist initially informed me I was fit to box. Today, the BBBofC ruled me out. I’m so, so sorry, especially to the people who were coming to support me. It has been an amazing camp and I’m gutted I won’t be able to showcase my improvement in Wembley.”

The bout was to take place on the monster Frank Warren card featuring Dereck Chisora against Malik Scott and Billy Joe Saunders against Gary O’Sullivan. Frampton was making his debut with Warren after jumping ship from Matchroom Sport following his win over Kiko Martinez in February.

Briceno was an overmatched opponent who had lost in a title challenge against Omar Narvaez at 115 pounds in 2010 and had been stopped by a rising Leo Santa Cruz at 118 pounds in 2011.

The 35-year-old Nicaraguan had also lost to Fernando Montiel in a 115-pound title challenge back in 2005 in his lone appearance in the United States. The bout was on the HBO pay-per-view undercard of Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor’s first bout.

Frampton is currently ranked No. 3 by THE RING, and could perhaps find himself challenging the winner of Jonathan Romero’s Aug. 17 title defense against Kiko Martinez, which will be televised by HBO.

Frampton’s ninth-round TKO of Martinez halted what was a seven bout win streak for the Spaniard. To date, it is the biggest win for the Barry McGuigan-managed Frampton, who indicated to RingTV that his next fight will likely be in Belfast in October, and probably either an eliminator or a world title fight.

Mark E. Ortega is a contributing writer to RingTV.com and has been featured in boxing publications RING Magazine and Boxing Monthly. He is a member of the Boxing Writers Assoc. of America and can be reached via e-mail and followed on Twitter.