The loaded March 3 Showtime Championship Boxing card at the Barclays Center just suffered a heavy hit to one of their key fights.
Hugo Centeno Jr., who was set to fight Jermall Charo for the interim WBC middleweight title in the co-main event, suffered a rib injury during sparring and will not recover in time for the fight. As such, the fight has been postponed, leaving Charlo without an opponent for the March 3 card. The fight has now been rescheduled for the April 21 Showtime Boxing card, which currently has a main event of Adrien Broner vs. Omar Figueroa Jr. Centeno explained how the injury occurred in a press release on February 23.
"It happened during sparring. I tried to work through the pain and as the day progressed and the adrenaline subsided I had to go to the ER and get checked out. It's a good enough injury that it had to be postponed. Nothing was broken, but it was severe enough to keep me from fighting," Centeno said.
With the Charlo vs. Centeno fight canceled, Showtime has elected to move on with the card without another fight taking its place. The card was originally set to be a tripleheader with an opening bout of Jose Uzcategui vs. Andre Dirrell for the interim IBF super middleweight title and a main event of Deontay Wilder vs. Luis Ortiz for the WBC heavyweight championship. Uzcategui vs. Dirrell has now been upgraded to the co-main event slot with the televised portion of the card now being a doubleheader.
The winner of the Charlo vs. Centeno not only would have won the interim WBC belt, but would also being on a short list of fighters that would be fighting the winner of the Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin rematch taking place on May 5.
