Carlos Canizales withdraws from Knockout CP Freshmart defense due to travel issues

Light flyweight champion Carlos Canizales got yet another stroke of bad luck this week. After agreeing to return to Thailand to battle former minimumweight champ Knockout CP Freshmart, ESPN’s Renato Bermudez announced yesterday that Canizales had withdrawn. Canizales took to social media to reveal that the recent decision by several major international airlines to stop flying out of Caracas would have left him with an unmanageable five-leg travel plan, giving him no time to acclimate or recover in time for the December 4th fight night.

Said decision came due to increased U.S. military presence in the Caribbean and consistent provocation towards the ruling government, including the extrajudicial killing of alleged drug runners and the designation of president Nicolas Maduro as the head of the “foreign terrorist group” Cartel de los Soles that does not appear to actually exist.

Canizales (28-3-1, 20 KO) brutally stopped Panya Pradabsri in their rematch this past August, avenging a bogus decision loss in Thailand the previous year. Despite this being a voluntary defense and Canizales not being due for a mandatory defense until next summer, the WBC appear to have stripped Canizales of the belt and declared him “champion in recess,” pitting Knockout (28-1, 11 KO) against Argentina’s Junior Zarate (26-5, 9 KO) for the now-vacant title. Keep in mind that this is the same sanctioning body that let Jermall Charlo go 1,000 days without a title defense.

Dude just can’t catch a break.