Chris Colbert will have to wait another week for his ring return.
The Ring has confirmed that the previously scheduled October 9th ProBox TV show has been pushed back one week due to the threat of incoming Hurricane Milton. Colbert is due to face Omar Salcido, but their lightweight bout is now slated to take place on October 16. The amended date requires the approval of the Florida State Boxing Commission, which is not expected to be a problem.
The show will continue to be broadcast live from ProBox TV Events Center in Plant City, Florida. Whatever effects come from this week’s expected dangerous storm should clear up in time for the revised date.
“Hurricane Milton is headed straight for Tampa and the west coast of Florida,” ProBox founder and CEO Garry Jonas noted in a statement provided to The Ring. “Out of an abundance of caution, we have postponed our October 9 show.
“Pending the Florida commission’s approval, we are pushing it to Wednesday, October 16.”
Colbert-Salcido was previously elevated to the Oct. 9 main event in place of the show’s original headliner. The date was originally reserved for the Nicholas Walters-Joseph ‘JoJo’ Diaz fight of former titles. That fight will now take place in November, also from ProBox headquarters in Plant City.
Colbert (17-2, 6 knockouts) previously held the WBA junior lightweight title. However, the Brooklyn, New York native has lost two of his three previous starts. He suffered a lopsided loss to then-undefeated Hector Luis Garcia in February 2022 to end his title reign.
Thirteen months passed before Colbert returned to the ring. He moved up to lightweight, where he claimed a contested 10-round unanimous decision over Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela last March 25 in Las Vegas. Valenzuela got it back in blood as Colbert was brutally knocked out in the sixth round of their rematch last December 16 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Valenzuela-Colbert II aired live on the final broadcast of Showtime Championship Boxing. Showtime bowed out of the sport soon after. The night also serves as Colbert’s most recent ring appearance for the time being.
Salcido (19-1, 13 KOs) is fighting for the third consecutive time in the USA. The 24-year-old is originally from Mexico, which hosted his first seventeen career games.
The US debut for Salcido produced his only career defeat. It came on a ProBox show as he was outpointed by Jose Nuñez (17-0-2, 7 KOs) in their battle of undefeated prospects last October 4 in Plant City, Florida.
Salcido bounced back with an eight-round victory over Luis Coria last December 1 in Houston, Texas.
The rest of the undercard will also move along with Colbert-Salcido. Undefeated junior lightweight prospect Tsendbaatar Erdenebat (10-0, 5 KOs) takes on Frency Fortunato (15-1, 9 KOs) in the co-feature. Also on the card, streak regular Najee Lopez (11-0, 8 KOs) meets Anthony Hernandez (7-3-1, 5 KOs) in a scheduled eight-round light heavyweight contest.
Tbe National Hurricane Center has already upgraded Milton from a tropical storm. It is now expected to make landfall as “an intense hurricane with multiple life-threatening hazards” by mid-week. The greater Tampa area is expected to be hit with heavy damage as the region continues to recover from the effects of Hurricane Helene.
