Xander Zayas’ homecoming fight week has suffered a late setback after welterweight contender Rohan Polanco was forced to withdraw due to illness.
Polanco reportedly began feeling unwell on Thursday evening and initially hoped to recover in time to at least make Friday’s weigh-in. When his condition failed to improve, event officials were notified and the bout was removed from the lineup, leaving Gomez (23-6-1, 21 KOs) without an opponent for Saturday’s show at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan.
The cancellation removes the intended co-feature from a card headlined by Xander Zayas, who will still defend his WBO junior middleweight title against WBA belt holder Abass Baraou in a 12-round unification bout. The event marks another shared appearance for Zayas and Polanco, who were previously featured together on multiple Top Rank shows over the past year and a half.
Both fighters last appeared on the same card in July at Madison Square Garden Theater, where Zayas claimed the vacant WBO 154lb title with a unanimous decision over Jorge Garcia, while Polanco earned a dominant decision win over Quinton Randall. Saturday’s bout was expected to move Polanco closer to his first major title opportunity, as the unbeaten Dominican is currently ranked No. 6 by the WBO at welterweight.
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