Oscar Rivas just cannot catch a break. After missing all of 2022 due to an inablity to set up a homecoming bout in Colombia, he’s now been forced out of his January 14th ESPN main event against Efe Ajagba due to an eye injury.
It’s not clear where exactly Rivas (28-1, 19 KO) will go from here. He still holds the WBC bridgerweight belt, and while everyone with two brain cells and a moral compass agrees that it’s entirely worthless, Mauricio Sulaiman disagrees. Rivas has gone more than a year without a defense, so I don’t imagine Sulaiman will let him spend more time gallivanting at heavyweight now that this has fallen through.
As for Ajagba (16-1, 13 KO), well, I wouldn’t bank on Top Rank finding a top fighter willing to square off with a vicious puncher on less than a month’s notice. Luckily, the show’s still passable even without the original main event, as Guido Vianello vs Stephen Shaw and Abraham Nova vs Adam Lopez are really solid matchups.