Jesus Ramos Jr pulled from title defense due to illness

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The most divisionally relevant fight on tomorrow’s “Pitbull” Cruz vs Nestor Bravo show, the co-feature between interim WBC middleweight champion Jesus Ramos Jr and long-suffering mandatory challenger Meiirim Nursultanov, is off after Ramos “fell ill” last night. Lance Pugmire cites food poisoning as the culprit and the press release claims the bout will be re-scheduled. Much as it sucks for Ramos (24-1, 19 KO), it really has to sting for Kazakhstan’s Nursultanov (20-1, 11 KO), who’s been owed a shot at the title for what feels like the bulk of the 2020s and already had to settle for targeting a secondary belt. Hoping for a quick turnaround. Rising American super middleweight Daniel Blancas (15-0, 7 KO) now gets the co-spotlight for his tussle against 39-year-old Sergio Jimenez (17-1-1. 15 KO), who got cooked by Deon Nicholson in his only noteworthy fight to date. Just a wee bit of a downgrade. The new main card opener pits Filipino Olympic bronze medalist Eumir Marcial (7-0, 4 KO) against Omar Ulises Huerta (15-1-1, 13 KO), himself a recent cook-ee at the hands of Vito Mielnicki Jr in April. Marcial’s got a history of getting floored repeatedly as a pro and is part of his home country’s squad for the Asian Games less than a week later, so they’re not taking any chances.