Dillian Whyte has pulled out of his fight with Joe Joyce, talkSPORT.com understands.
The British heavyweights were set to headline a stacked Queenberry Promotions bill at the Co-Op Live Arena, Manchester on April 5.
Bitter rivals Lawrence Okolie and Richard Riakporhe will finally settle their score in the co-feature attraction, while Olympian Delicious Orie is due to make his professional debut further down the card.
However, the show has taken a major hit in the form of Whyte being pulled from the main event.
According to three well-placed sources, the reason for his withdrawal is an injury.
Organisers are now scrambling to find a replacement opponent for Joyce on the same date.
One source confirmed that Jermaine Franklin, who lost a close decision to Whyte in 2022, is in the running.
Whyte (31-3) was due to face Joyce in his third fight back since the collapse of his rematch with Anthony Joshua in 2023.
But he tested positive for an undisclosed banned substance in a pre-fight drugs test, leading to the bout being called off.
However, a subsequent investigation by the Texas Boxing Commission in March 2024 found that Whyte had taken a contaminated substance, so the Brit was cleared to continue his career.
In the same month he returned to action, stopping Christian Hammer, and followed up that win in December by retiring Tetteh on his stool at the end of the seventh round in Gibraltar.
Joyce (16-3), like Whyte, is aiming to rebuild his career after significant setbacks.
In 2023, he was handed the first blemishes on his record by Zhilei Zhang via back-to-back stoppages.
After a six-month break, Joyce returned to winning ways with a last-gasp knockout win over Kash Ali in March 2024.
However, he lost to rugged veteran Derek Chisora over the distance in his next fight in July 2024.
Joyce was scheduled to fight Patrick Korte on March 1 in Bournemouth on the Ryan Garner vs Salvador Jimenez undercard despite having his bout with Whyte pencilled in for a month later.
Yet the fight was pulled from the event days before.
No reason was given at the time but reports claimed that the Whyte fight “shouldn’t be affected.”
‘The Bodysnatcher’ went on to pull out of his domestic dust-up with Joyce days later.
