By Michele Emrick
Alfonso Gomez suffered a hand injury this week, forcing the welterweight fighter to withdraw from his scheduled Dec. 14 fight with former champion Victor Ortiz.
The bout was scheduled to take place in San Antonio at the Alamodome, and be televised on Showtime as part of the Adrien Broner-Marcos Maidana card. The bout was not even announced until this past Saturday. It was on Tuesday that Gomez suffered the freak injury, forcing him out of the fight.
“He broke his hand in a freak accident,” said Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez. “Carrying his baby daughter, he tripped and fell. Protecting her, he fell on his arm and broke his hand.”
Gomez is a former title challenger at both welterweight and junior middleweight, as well as one of the stars of “The Contender” reality series from years ago. It would have been his first action in almost a year and a half. His last two times out were losses suffered to Canelo Alvarez in a junior middleweight title fight, as well as a loss to Shawn Porter last July.
Eric Gomez said the are already searching for a replacement to step in against Ortiz (29-4-2, 22 KO’s), who plans on remaining on the card.
The fight with Alfonso Gomez was scheduled for 10 rounds at 147 pounds. It is unclear if the new opponent will also be a 147 pounder, or if Ortiz plans on making it a 154 pound junior middleweight contest.
Victor Ortiz has also been inactive, last competing 18 months ago when he was stopped in the ninth round against Josesito Lopez. In that contest, he suffered a broken jaw which was the main reason for his inactivity.
Prior to that, he lost to Floyd Mayweather back in September of 2011.
Pingback: The Reality Boxers - Pro Boxing Insider