Jamel Herring withdraws from Jonathan Oquendo fight after positive coronavirus test

Some things just aren’t meant to be.

Mike Coppinger reports that tomorrow night’s ESPN headliner between Jamel Herring and Jonathan Oquendo is once again canceled after “Semper Fi” withdrew “for an undisclosed reason.” As of this writing, neither ESPN nor Top Rank have commented, though the card will presumably go ahead with former co-feature Mikaela Mayer vs. Helen Joseph in the main event.

This matchup, first slated for July 2nd, initially fell through after Herring (21-2, 10 KO) tested positive for COVID-19. He recently admitted that he wasn’t “100%”, but was confident enough in his chances against Oquendo (31-6, 19 KO) to decline an offer to turn the fight into a 10-round non-title affair.

Unless I’m forgetting something, Top Rank has now lost every single main event on its July schedule besides Valdez-Velez on the 21st. Jose Pedraza vs. Mikkel LesPierre had to fill in for Herring-Oquendo on the 2nd, Kendo Castaneda replaced Ivan Baranchyk on the 9th, and Miguel Marriaga vs. Mark John Yap replaced Eleider Alvarez vs. Joe Smith Jr. this upcoming Thursday.

We’ll update this piece when we get more information about Herring’s condition and the card’s status. Until then, let’s recklessly point fingers. I’m going to say “weight cut complications due to lingering coronavirus issues.”

EDIT: Herring chimed in to claim his fight was “caught up in an entanglement...” He even used ellipses, so you know it’s serious.

2EDIT2FURIOUS: Top Rank confirmed in a statement that Herring once again tested positive for COVID-19.