The “Who’s Next 5?” fight card of the Omega Pro Sports International slated July 7 at the Island City Mall in Bohol was canceled after one of the boxers supposed to see action suffered an injury during training.
Cebuano WBO oriental light flyweight champion Christian “The Bomb” Araneta (14-0-0,2KOs) was preparing for his fight against fellow Filipino pug Jesse Espinas (16-2-0,11KOs) in the co-main event of the fight card when he suffered a severe injury last Monday in the middle of his training at the Omega Boxing Gym in Cebu City.
The unbeaten 22-year-old boxer suffered a torn muscle in his right shoulder after throwing a right straight to his sparring partner, according to Jerome Calatrava, the newly appointed vice president of the Omega Pro Sports International (OPSI).
“We were watching the sparring session when it happened. We thought at first that it was just a minor injury but his shoulder began to swell and after he was examined by the doctors, that’s where we found out that it’s really a severe injury,” Calatrava said in a press conference yesterday. “We are unfortunately forced to cancel the Bohol fight, and right now we are looking for a new schedule between August and September here in Cebu.”
Supposed to headline the fight card was fellow Omega boxing gym boxer Jack “El Capitan” Tepora (20-0-0,15KOs), who was set to face his first Mexican opponent in Emmanuel Dominguez (21-5-2,13KOs).
“Everything was set up. We were just waiting for July 7 but this happened,” Calatrava said.
Calatrava said they tried to talk to their counterparts in Bohol to replace Araneta’s fight with another one but both parties couldn’t reach an agreement.
“We already promised them a two-championship fight card and it seems that they can’t agree with [replacing Araneta] so we were forced to cancel the fight card there. We can’t move it into another date because the fight card was supposed to be one of the activities held in line with the Sandugo Festival,” added Calatrava.
Araneta is scheduled to undergo surgery this Saturday and will take eight months to a year before he can recover and get back into training.
Calatrava said Tepora will still be in the main event of the Who’s Next? 5 that will be held either in August or September but he’s not sure if Dominguez will still be his foe.
“We already emailed Dominguez’s camp but we received no response. We told them to grab other fights that will be offered to him. We will have a meeting today to come up with a new schedule and venue,” Calatrava said.
They are also negotiating with another boxing promoter to replace Araneta in the fight card. Calatrava said that it will be another championship bout but he did not divulge any information as of this writing since they are still negotiating with the boxing promoter.