The much-anticipated rematch between American heavyweight prospects Johnathon Banks and Seth Mitchell will not be held at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall on Feb. 16 as scheduled.
Banks (29-1-1, 19 KOs) suffered a broken right thumb while sparring Tuesday, forcing officials to postpone the bout until a later date.
“I was told he was icing his thumb and hoping the swelling would go down and then (Wednesday) morning when he woke up, the swelling and pain were worse,” Golden Boy promoter Richard Schaefer told ESPN.com Wednesday.
The Feb. 16 main event between WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner and Gavin Rees still will be held at Boardwalk Hall as scheduled. Tickets, priced from $25 to $200, are on sale at Boardwalk Hall and through Ticketmaster.
The fight will be telecast on “HBO Championship Boxing.”
Banks had sent shockwaves through the boxing community when he posted a second-round TKO over Mitchell (25-1-1, 19 KOs) Nov. 17 at Boardwalk Hall on the Broner-Antonio DeMarco card.
Broner (25-0, 21 KOs) will be making the first defense of the 135-pound title he won via eighth-round TKO over DeMarco.
Rees (37-1-1, 18 KOs) is ranked in the top five by two sanctioning bodies but is still considered a big underdog against Broner.
Contact David Weinberg:
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