World Boxing Association light flyweight super champion Hiroto Kyoguchi of Watanabe Boxing Gym has abandoned his possible title defense against Thai’s Thanongsak Simsri within the year following the cancellation of the fight on Nov. 3 in Osaka after Kyoguchi and his chief trainer having proved positive in PCR tests for novel coronavirus immediately before the fight, Watanabe gym said on Dec. 8 in its statement.

While the gym tried to rearrange the title match late in this month with Kyoguchi resuming training after a 10-day isolation period and Thanongsak continuing training without returning home, the gym side has given up the idea of the rearranging the fight given the current worsening conditions surrounding the COVID-19 especially in the urban areas and the Japan Boxing Commission’s severer guidelines for staging title matches.

In the statement, the gym will apologize the Thanongsak side and plans to work out an arrangement with the latter concerning their future prospects before Thanongsak and his people returning to Thailand. The cancellation fee and the actual expenses needed to stay in Japan after their arriving in Japan in October have already been paid, according to the statement.

By the same token, the 27-year-old Kyoguchi’s physical conditions after resuming the training have not been well as he had to take a rest for one week from Nov. 18.