Former welterweight world titleholder Shawn Porter has withdrawn from his fight on the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor undercard, Mayweather Promotions announced Thursday.
Porter, looking to stay active while awaiting a probable interim welterweight title fight later in the year, was due to face Thomas Dulorme in a 10-round bout on the Fox-televised portion of the preliminary bouts (7 p.m. ET) before the main card on Showtime PPV (9 p.m. ET) on Aug. 26 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Porter (27-2-1, 17 KOs), however, pulled out because of a death in his family.
Dulorme (24-2, 18 KOs) will remain on the card and face replacement opponent Yordenis Ugas (19-3, 9 KOs), a 2008 Olympic bronze medalist from Cuba, in the main preliminary bout.
"On behalf of Mayweather Promotions we send our prayers and deepest condolences to the Porter family," said Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions. "In boxing we have to deal with curveballs that constantly come at us. Thomas Dulorme has been training hard and is ready to face Yordenis Ugas. Ugas is a tough competitor that shouldn't be overlooked, and Dulorme is ready. The fight fans are definitely in for an outstanding show between Dulorme and Ugas come Aug. 26."
Dulorme, 27, of Puerto Rico, who has won both of his bouts since suffering a sixth-round knockout loss to Terence Crawford for a vacant junior welterweight world title in April 2015, said he was not fazed by the change of opponent.
"I have been training for this fight for several weeks now. I knew at the time Porter was going to be a tough challenger so I took training camp extremely serious," Dulorme said. "Fighting on a card this big, you cannot doubt anyone in front of you. My new opponent doesn't change much. All I can do is continue to stay focused and listen to my team and bring the best fight I can."
The fight is as big an unexpected opportunity for Ugas, 31, who fights out of Miami. He has won four fights in a row since losing two straight decisions in 2014 and taking off all of 2015.
"It's an honor to be fighting on one of the biggest boxing cards in history and fighting in the same ring as one of the most famous boxers in the world, Floyd Mayweather,'' Ugas said. "This is the type of fight that I've been looking forward to having since I came back last year after being off. This will be my fifth fight in a year. And this is the second fight that I've taken on short notice this year. But it doesn't bother me because I'm always training.
"Dulorme is a tremendous fighter. He's very aggressive and very technical. He's going to get my very best as I know I will get the very best from him. It's really an honor to fight a quality opponent on a card like this.''
Opening the Fox telecast of preliminaries will be a scheduled 10-round junior welterweight fight between prospects Juan Heraldez (12-0, 8 KOs), 27, of Las Vegas, and Jose Miguel Borrego (13-0, 12 KOs), 19, of Mexico.
Before the preliminary bouts begin, Fox will also have a one-hour prefight show beginning at 6 p.m. ET.