Heavyweight Johnathon Mitchell has suffered an apparent thumb injury that will force him out of a Feb. 16 rematch with Seth Mitchell, whom he knocked out in the second round in November.
A Saturday press conference is in the works for smack-talkers Adrien Broner and Paulie Malignaggi.
Banks' thumb injury takes him out of rematch with Mitchell
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Heavyweight Johnathon Banks has suffered a thumb injury that will force him out of a Feb. 16 rematch with Seth "Mayhem" Mitchell, the latter of whom lost by second-round knockout to Banks in November. As a result, a super middleweight WBC eliminator bout between Cameroon native Sakio Bika and unbeaten Nikola Sjekloca of Montenegro could become the opener to an HBO-televised main event featuring WBC lightweight beltholder Adrien "The Problem" Broner against Gavin Rees of Wales at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, according to Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer. "Johnathon Banks broke his thumb in sparring, and he will not be able to compete in the bout on February 16 against Seth Mitchell," said Schaefer. "Broner will go ahead, and what we're working on now is to see that we can move up Sakio Bika against Sjekloca as the opening bout. So we're working on that." Lem Satterfield can be reached at lemuel.satterfield@gmail.com
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