HIV Tests Keep Manon Out of Fight

Featherweight Leocadio Manon of the Dominican Republic, who was scheduled to fight on Saturday night’s Marco Antonio Barrera-Mzonke Fana card at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, was forced to withdraw when he twice tested positive for HIV, said Richard Schaefer, head of Golden Boy Promotions, which staged the event.

Manon’s handlers asked for the second test after the first came back positive, Schaefer said.

Manon, who was unavailable for comment, had expressed shock at the test results.

Officials of the Texas Athletic Commission were forbidden from commenting because of rules of confidentiality.

Manon, who had been scheduled to fight Abner Mares in a preliminary bout Saturday, has a 12-4 record with seven knockouts in a career that began in 1997.

Manon’s last fight, which was held in Santo Domingo, was against Oscar Gonzales in November.

X-rays taken on the right hand of Barrera late Saturday night after the main event revealed a fracture.

Barrera had complained of injuring his hand in the first round.

But somehow, Barrera used that injured right hand to first stun Fana in the second round and then followed with a crushing right-hand punch to knock Fana down and out of the fight.

“Because my hand hurt,” Barrera said, “I knew I had to finish the job quickly.”

Barrera has been fitted with a soft cast, but the conclusion after the initial diagnosis is that surgery will not be required.