MIDDLEWEIGHT duo Etinosa Oliha and Austin Williams were set to meet in an intriguing IBF final eliminator on Saturday’s Rodriguez-Cafu bill in Frisco. However, the Italian underdog has now been forced to withdraw from the contest.
Oliha, 21-0 (9 KOs), has come up the hard way, fighting in his home country, where boxing is not at the forefront of public interest, throughout the early stages of his career.
Yet, when ‘El Chapo’ was invited to Germany by Agon Sports to spar their fighters, Oliha grabbed the opportunity with both hands and convinced the promotional outfit to sign him.
Since then, Oliha has fought in Germany on five consecutive occasions and picked up the IBO middleweight world title before overcoming Ismael Seck and Alexander Pavlov to thrust himself into contention for the IBF crown.
Now positioned as the #2 contender, the IBF ordered Oliha to take on ‘Ammo’ Williams, 18-1 (12 KOs), in a final eliminator to determine a mandatory challenger for unified 160lb world champion, Janibek Alimkhanuly.
That contest was scheduled to go ahead this weekend as the highlight of the Rodriguez-Cafu undercard. Now, it has been revealed that Oliha has had to pull out of the bout due to an ‘issue with his eye examination’ during his standard pre-fight medical, according to BoxingScene.
As a result, Ammo Williams and Matchroom Boxing are now looking for a replacement that will keep the American on this weekend’s card at short notice.
It is also understood that Oliha’s eye injury will heal within weeks, meaning his showdown with Williams could be rescheduled for later in the calendar.
