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Herring was scheduled to defend his WBO title against Jonathan Oquendo on July 2nd.
The hits keep coming for Top Rank Boxing.
WBO junior lightweight champion Jamel Herring (21-2, 10 KOs) was slated to defend his title against Johnathan Oquendo (31-6, 19 KOs) on July 2nd on ESPN, but that has been pushed back after Herring revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19.
Last week, I tested positive for COVID-19. That’s the bad news.
The good news however is, I feel ok and have self-isolated until I receive a clean bill of health. My WBO Junior Lightweight world title defense against Jonathan Oquendo will be rescheduled shortly.
Semper Fi
— Jamel Herring (@JamelHerring) June 23, 2020
“Last week, I tested positive for COVID-19. That’s the bad news,” Herring wrote.
“The good news however is, I feel ok and have self-isolated until I receive a clean bill of health. My WBO Junior Lightweight world title defense against Jonathan Oquendo will be rescheduled shortly.”
This is the second main event Top Rank has lost to the virus since it resumed its event schedule on June 9th. Last week, Jose Pedraza vs. Mikkel LesPierre was scrapped on fight day when LesPierre’s manager had a positive COVID-19 result, and his close contact with LesPierre prompted the cancellation. It’s since been reported that LesPierre’s manager tested negative on a retest, so it may have been an initial false positive, but Top Rank has since banned managers from entering its Las Vegas “bubble.”
BoxingScene’s Keith Idec reports that Pedraza vs. LesPierre could be rescheduled for July 2nd, especially since LesPierre tested negative at the time.
Overall, Top Rank has lost four fights to COVID-19, including a false positive from Mikaela Mayer when she was slated to fight on June 9th vs. Helen Joseph. Top Rank’s testing policy is such that a positive result is grounds for immediate removal, which differs from what we’ve seen with the UFC.
As for Herring, whose positive result occurred outside of the bubble, he told Sport Illustrated that his fight will be moved to July 14th. The former U.S. Marine was supposed to be the first major world champion to defend his title since the COVID-19 pandemic put the boxing schedule on hold. That should still be the case even with the postponement, but that’s provided nothing else occurs over the next couple of weeks to alter the plans again.