Pedraza-LesPierre canceled, but rest of show will go on
This marks Top Rank’s third canceled fight due to coronavirus this month
Multiple sources report that tonight’s ESPN main event between Jose Pedraza and Mikkel LesPierre is off after LesPierre’s manager, Jose Tavares, tested positive for COVID-19. As Tavares was with LesPierre in the buildup to the match, it has been canceled over safety concerns.
Top Rank has confirmed the rest of the show will go on, with Gabriel Flores Jr now bumped to the main event. The show starts at 8 pm ET still.
This marks the third time since Top Rank’s return that the coronavirus has scrapped a fight and the second time it’s axed a main or co-main event. Mikaela Mayer was pulled from her co-headlining spot on the June 9th Shakur Stevenson-Felix Caraballo card after testing positive, though she’s recently claimed that it was a false positive, and Chris Zavala was forced out of a fight with Eddie Vazquez on Tuesday’s Joshua Greer-Mike Plania card.
It sucks, obviously, but there are way too many fluids flying around in the ring to be anything but extra cautious. On the bright side, maybe we’ll get David Kaminsky vs. Clay Collard on the main card now.