By Michele Emrick
Willie Nelson has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled meeting with former three time middleweight champion Matthew Macklin due to an apparent elbow injury. Promoter Lou DiBella disclosed the news on Monday.
Nelson was moving up from junior middleweight in what was scheduled to be the opening bout on an HBO tripleheader taking place on Dec. 7. in Atlantic City. However, Nelson appears to have sustained a partial tear of the medial collateral ligament in his left elbow. The injury happened while Nelson was sparring last week.
“Darnell Boone tied him up and Willie heard a pop in his elbow,” DiBella said. “We got verification over the weekend that he has the tear and can’t fight Macklin. Willie is probably going to be out for about four months. He probably won’t be able to fight until about mid-March.”
DiBella said a replacement is being sought out to face Macklin.
“Willie is very upset,” DiBella said. “He was prepared and he was psyched for this fight with Matt. But at least it wasn’t a total tear or a career-threatening injury. He’s upset but there’s nothing he can do about it, and he knows it could have been a lot worse. He had a sense as soon as he heard the pop that there was something wrong. So we’ll find a replacement to fight Macklin.”
Matt Korobev (21-0) was mentioned as a possible replacement, but was denied by Macklin because he did ot want to face a southpaw on just three weeks notice. Max Bursak was given the ok by both Macklin and HBO, but the Ukranian would not agree to it.
“We tried to make that fight, which was HBO’s idea,” DiBella said. “But Bursak’s trainer vetoed the fight because it was on too short notice, so we’re working on another opponent.”
The main event will feature junior featherweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (12-0) defending his crown against former bantamweight champion Joseph Agbeko (29-4).
