Wilder vs Ortiz: Sergiy Derevyanchenko possible for undercard

Middleweight contender Sergiy Derevyanchenko was slated to fight on Saturday at Barclays Center in a stay-busy against veteran Dashon Johnson, but ESPN reports he’s out of that fight with flu-like symptoms.

Instead, Derevyanchenko (11-0, 9 KO) could return on March 3 as part of the Barclays card headlined by Deontay Wilder vs Luis Ortiz for Wilder’s WBC heavyweight title.

Derevyanchenko, 32, is coming off of an impressive win over Tureano Johnson last August, when he stopped Johnson in the 12th and final round of a title eliminator. That made Derevyanchenko the mandatory for the IBF middleweight title, currently held by Gennady Golovkin, who is in negotiations for a superfight rematch with Canelo Alvarez, and thus not exactly available at the moment.

The fight with Johnson was meant to be a tune-up for something more significant in the spring, which means we could possibly see him in a different tune-up sort of fight if he does return on March 3.