With the death toll in China attributed to the current coronavirus outbreak rising to 26 and travel limits increasing through the country, Top Rank Boxing has decided to cancel and reschedule Jose Ramirez's junior welterweight title defense against Viktor Postol. The fight was to take place Feb. 1 at Mission Hills Haikou resort in Haikou, China with the card airing on ESPN.
Promotional president Bob Arum confirmed to ESPN that the fight had been officially called off, stating the only delay in the announcement had been confirming the cancelation with the resort as a courtesy.
Ramirez unified his WBC title with the WBO title when he defeated Maurice Hooker last July, scoring a sixth-round knockout. He had won the then-vacant WBC title in March 2018 with a decision win over Amir Imam and made two successful defenses before the Hooker clash. Postol had won his first 28 career fights, culminating in winning the WBC title with a knockout of Lucas Matthysse in 2015. He would lose two of his next three fights, against Terence Crawford and Josh Taylor, before picking up back-to-back wins to set up the fight with Ramirez.
According to Arum, the fight will be rescheduled and relocated to the United States, with a date and location still to be determined.
"We'd have to get a location to have the fight and clear a date with ESPN," Arum told ESPN. "All of those things have to be done. It's a bummer but better safe than sorry if that's what happens."
