Nelson Hospitalized, So Forum Postpones Monday Night Card

The Forum will not have its own Final Four Monday night after all, since the fighters for its two scheduled title bouts have all been sent home for three more weeks.

The postponement, the promotion’s second, was again caused by Azumah Nelson, who was to defend his World Boxing Council featherweight title against top-ranked Marcos Villasana.

Nelson, who forced a postponement of a March 21 date because of “exhaustion,” bowed out of the April Fools’ Day date because of an apparent case of appendicitis.

Nelson suffered stomach cramps on Monday and was hospitalized late Wednesday night. He is now at the Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood, where Dr. Mark Saginor has prescribed a non-surgical approach for now. In any event, Nelson was ordered to stop training and not to fight.

Nelson’s withdrawal forced Forum officials and co-promoter Don King to postpone the entire card, which also included WBC super-featherweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez’s first title defense, against three-time contender Ruben Castillo.

The card has been rescheduled for April 19, but Nelson will not be on it. That title bout has been postponed indefinitely and will be replaced on the new date by a super-bantamweight bout between WBC champion Juan (Kid) Meza and Mike Ayala.