According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, WBA Super Lightweight champion Khabib Allekhverdiev injured his elbow and his March 30th title defense with Breidis Prescott has been postponed.
The bout was supposed to be the HBO televised co-feature to the highly anticipated rematch between Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado.
“Khabib’s right elbow is a mess,” said Top Rank Vice-President Carl Moretti. “There are fragments and a lot of blood inside the elbow. He’s going to be on the shelf for several weeks. I don’t expect him to return until the summer. He was in Miami training and apparently was feeling pain for several days, if not a week. He went and had an MRI and an evaluation, and that’s what it showed. He tried to fight through it and stay in the fight but he just couldn’t pull it off.
“He couldn’t fight next week and will be out for a bit. He’ll need therapy and possibly a scope to clean it up. I think it’s been something there for awhile.”
Soon after the injury was disclosed promoters were trying to make a fight between Prescott and undefeated Terrance Crawford. Crawford is already ticketed to fight on the undercard.
“Crawford is already on the card and is in great shape,” Moretti said. “His fight was going to be shown on the international broadcast, and now he’ll get to fight a better opponent on HBO in the opening fight. There’s food and then there’s caviar. This was a no-brainer for us. (If it happens) it should be a great fight in the ring style-wise. You have Crawford, who is a young, undefeated fighter with a pleasing style, and Prescott, we already know the wars he provides. How could this not be an explosion of some sort?”
