The world championship fight involving Quebec boxer Kim Clavel has been postponed, Groupe GYM announced on Tuesday evening.
“Following the recommendation of Doctor Francis Fontaine concerning the state of health of [Kim Clavel]we are forced to postpone the unification fight scheduled for Thursday 1er December at Place Bell,” the organization’s president, Yvon Michel, posted on Twitter.
The hashtags “#influenza”, “#fever” and “#safety” follow the tweet, suggesting that the 32-year-old boxer has been struck down with the flu virus.
WBC light flyweight world champion, the native of Joliette (16-0, 3 KOs) had to face the Mexican Yesica Nery Plata (28-2, 3 KOs), holder of the WBA belt.
Clavel would then have become the first boxer from Quebec, of all sexes, to attempt to unify world titles within the framework of a gala presented in the province.
Nery Plata arrived in Montreal on Friday, her first visit to Canada. Clavel and she participated in a media training on Saturday and a press conference on Monday morning at the Casino de Montreal.
A public training scheduled for Saturday at Carrefour Laval had been canceled because the GYM Group precisely feared the spread of viruses.
On Twitter, Clavel clarified that she had started “not to feel without more” from Tuesday. The weigh-in was to take place this Wednesday afternoon.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Yesica Nery Plata and Kim Clavel
The entire gala has been cancelled. Five other fights were on the bill, including four involving Quebecers Marie-Pier Houle, Caroline Veyre, Derek Pomerleau and Mazlun Akdeniz.
According to RDS.ca, Houle no longer had an opponent. The Canadian Olivia Gerula would be retained in the United States to obtain her green card, while a replacement boxer, the Mexican Marisol Moreno, would not have received the green light from the Régie des alcools, des courses et des games, according to information from journalist Francis Paquin.
Clavel had her world championship clash against Mexican Yesenia Gomez postponed from April to July after she contracted COVID-19, a virus which had severely affected her.
Thursday night’s fight was to earn him the biggest purse of his career.