JC Martinez pulls out of tomorrow's co-feature with suspicious story

By Scott Shaffer

26/02/2021

JC Martinez pulls out of tomorrow's co-feature with suspicious story

A tight-lipped Matchroom Twitter post confirmed that tomorrow's WBC flyweight title fight is off. Champion "Julio Cesar Martinez has withdrawn from our February 27th show in Miami due to a hand injury. More to follow." Martinez was set to fight McWilliams Arroyo in the chief supporting bout for DAZN's huge Canelo Alvarez vs. Avni Yildirim broadcast. Martinez was seen jogging around the hotel pool on Thursday morning and particpated in Matchroom's press conference early in the afternoon, two occurrences that call the claim of a hand injury into question. Martinez posted a picture of a swollen hand on his social media account, but his face was not in the picture nor could the date of the photo be confirmed. These clues lead to speculation that Martinez realized he would not make the 112-pound flyweight limit and chose to withdraw rather lose his title on the scales.