As previously reported, former two time world champion Roman “Rocky” Martínez will not fight this Saturday, April 12, against Raymundo Beltran. Martinez has been sick since last week and has not been able to train for a few days.
The bout between the #11 ranked Martinez (27-2-2, 16 KOs) and the #1 ranked Beltran (28-6-1, 17 KOs) was for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) NABO lightweight title and for the chance, to the winner, to face the WBO 135 pounds champion Terence Crawford. Also, it was the co-main event of the HBO Pay Per View card featuring Timothy Bradley and Manny Pacquiao .
“Rocky was feeling dizzy for the past few days and went to the doctor, who did some tests and doctors advised him not to fight, that he was unable to do so”, said Peter Rivera, Vice-President of PR Best Boxing Promotions (PRBBP), which represents Martinez promotionally with Top Rank. “This was a fight Rocky wanted to win, very important in his career, a fight that put him on route to a world title and everybody knows that Rocky is a fighter who wants to be in 100% condition”.
Martinez is coming off an eight round TKO loss against Mikey Garcia in November 2013, and was supposed to make his debut at 135 pounds against Beltran, whose last fight was a controversial draw against the former WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns in September, 2013.
“We are hopeful that Rocky will get better so we can continue with our plans to become world champion again”, Rivera said.