Visa delays push Davies-Barroso bout off Garcia-Duarte card
The Ohara Davies-Ismael Barroso bout, scheduled for this Saturday, will have to wait until next year.
The scheduled co-feature to the Ryan Garcia-Oscar Duarte main event, with the interim WBA world junior welterweight title belt on the line, is postponed to a later date, Oscar De La Hoya announced on social media on Wednesday.
“Due to Visa delays, the fight between Ohara Davies and Ismael Barroso scheduled for this Saturday, December 2 will be postponed to a later date,” said the Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy Promotions. “More information will be made available in the coming weeks.”
The fight between unbeaten lightweight Floyd Schofield and Ricardo Lopez Torres is now the co-main event that will precede the main event bout between Garcia and Duarte.
Both fights will take place at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas and will stream live on DAZN (8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT).
Davies (25-2, 18 knockouts), who resides in London, England, was scheduled to make his United States debut against Barroso. He recently signed a promotional deal with Golden Boy Promotions.
The 31-year-old was victorious in his last fight on March 4, a WBA world title elimination bout, knocking out Lewis Ritson in the eighth round. Davies has won his last seven bouts since losing to Jack Catterall in October 2018.
Davies is grateful for the opportunity to face Barroso, but at a later date.
“Slight delay, thanks to the USA Embassy for working quickly and efficiently to issue me a Visa to travel to (the United States) to Box,” stated Davies on Twitter Wednesday night. “I’ll be collecting the passport this week and the rescheduled fight with Barroso will be announced within the next few days – Big up the US.”
Barroso (24-4-2, 22 KOs), who is originally from El Tigre, Venezuela and now resides in Miami, Florida, last fought on May 13, losing in controversial fashion to Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero in the ninth round. At the time of the stoppage, Barroso, who dropped Romero during the third round, was up on the scorecards (78-73, 77-74, and 76-75).
The WBA ordered Davies-Barroso as an interim title fight after Romero was not medically cleared to defend against Davies after reportedly suffering an injury after the win over Barroso.
Schofield (15-0, 11 KOs) last fought on July 8, defeating fringe contender Haskell Rhodes by unanimous decision. The 21-year-old, who resides in Austin, Texas, has stopped five of his seven opponents.
Lopez (17-7-3, 12 KOs), who resides in Tijuana, Mexico, stopped journeyman Adalberto Garcia Covarrubias in the second round of his last bout on August 6. The win over Garcia took place after back-to-back losses to Marc Castro (April 8) and to Manuel Jaimes on December 17 of last year.
Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at santio89@yahoo.com
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