Marlen Esparza and Gabriela Alaniz will have to wait a little longer to settle an old score.

The Ring has learned that their flyweight championship rematch is now postponed. An unforeseen visa issue has delayed Alaniz’s travel to the U.S. from Argentina. The uncertainty forced the bout to drop off the March 16 DAZN show from The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

A new date for the bout was not immediately made known as this goes to publication.

Esparza (12-1, 1 knockout) is The Ring flyweight champion and also holds the WBC, WBA and WBO titles. Alaniz (14-1, 6 KOs) is rated No. 2 at 112 by The Ring.

The two agreed to terms earlier this year during a second round of negotiations. The WBO ordered an immediate rematch to their entertaining unified championship match last July 8 in San Antonio, Texas. Esparza edged the previously unbeaten Alaniz via majority decision to win the WBO title and defend her Ring, WBC and WBA reign.

Alaniz and promoter Georgina Rivero filed a protest given the questionable outcome. A thorough review by the WBO determined that a rematch was warranted before Esparza enter any other fight.

The ruling killed plans for a hoped-for undisputed championship.

Esparza—a Bronze medalist for the U.S. during the 2012 London Olympics—was previously in talks with then-IBF titleholder Arely Mucino (32-4-2, 11 KOs). However, plans were stalled when neither could break free from mandatory title defenses. Mucino was ordered to face Gabriela Fundora (13-0, 6 KOs), No. 1 at 112, who won the title via fifth-round knockout last October 20 at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California.

Esparza and Fundora then entered negotiations, but could not find common ground in time for the WBO-mandated rematch versus Alaniz to come back into play.

Neither Esparza nor Alaniz have fought since their entertaining scrap last summer.

The fallout is the second hit to this show endured by Golden Boy Promotions. Victor Morales (19-0-1, 9 KOs) fell ill and was forced to withdraw from his WBA featherweight title eliminator versus Luis Nuñez (19-0, 13 KOs).

The rest of the show remains intact, including a matchup of top ten Ring lightweights.

Mexico’s Zepeda (29-0, 25 KOs), No. 5 at 135, and the No. 9-rated Hughes (26-5-2, 9 KOs) meet in a scheduled twelve-round, WBA and IBF title eliminator. Zepeda is in the top five of all four major sanctioning bodies. Hughes is ranked No. 5 by the WBA and No. 4 by the IBF.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Follow @JakeNDaBox

SUBSCRIBE NOW (CLICK HERE - JUST $1.99 PER MONTH) TO READ THE LATEST ISSUE