Mercito Gesta out of bout vs Tanajara due to food poisoning

FILE — Boxer Mercito Gesta poses during the official weigh-in for his world lightweight title bout against Miguel Angel Vazquez at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on December 7, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jeff Bottari/Getty Images/AFP

MANILA, Philippines—Mercito Gesta’s return to action got scrapped after the Filipino veteran went down with a bad case of food poisoning.

The 32-year-old Gesta was supposed to take on undefeated Hector Tanajara (19-0, 5 knockouts) in a lightweight bout for July 24 in what was supposed to be the main support match in Golden Boy Promotions’ first card since February, as per RingTV.com.

Gesta (32-3-3, 17 KOs) last fought in November 2019  against Carlos Morales in a bout that ended in a draw.

The rest of the fight card, however, will go according to plan with Vergil Ortiz (15-0, 15 KOs), the 2019 Ring Prospect of the Year, taking on Samuel Vargas (31-5, 14 KOs) in a 12-round welterweight match that will be streamed through DAZN.

Shane Mosley Jr.’s (15-3, 9 KOs) eight-round middleweight contest against Jeremy Ramos (11-8, 4 KOs) has been elevated to the card’s main support bout.

Gesta has been in a slump since his loss to Jorge Linares when he challenged the Venezuelan for the WBA World lightweight title as well as the WBC Diamond strap.

The Filipino southpaw went 1-2-1 in his last four bouts with his lone win coming off a majority decision against Robert Manzanarez for the vacant WBO North American Boxing Organization lightweight strap.