The highly anticipated junior bantamweight title bout between Willibaldo García and Kenshiro Teraji was officially canceled on Friday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after García suddenly fell ill. García, who boasts a professional record of 23-6-2 with 13 knockouts, was scheduled to defend his IBF title the following day as part of the significant undercard event, which also featured the undisputed junior featherweight clash between Naoya Inoue and Alan Picasso.

Prior to the cancellation, the 36-year-old fighter had successfully completed his weigh-in and participated in the final ceremonial face-off against his opponent, Teraji (25-2, 16 KOs), earlier on Friday in Riyadh. However, shortly after these proceedings, it was confirmed, according to Ring Magazine, that García was not medically cleared to participate in the fight due to his health condition.

Sean Gibbons, who manages Willibaldo García, elaborated on the situation in an interview with Ring Magazine, confirming that the fighter was experiencing a stomach problem. Gibbons stated, "Everything was great," initially, describing how García had made weight "fantastic" and completed the ceremonial duties without any apparent issues. He further explained the sudden turn of events: "Then did the second day ceremony, [and] everything was great. I don't know what he had, but his stomach wasn't feeling good. So I went to have his stomach checked, and he's just not feeling great. That's it." This unexpected illness led to the unfortunate and abrupt cancellation of García's title defense, affecting the overall fight card in Riyadh.