Carlos Adames Pulls Out of WBC Middleweight Title Defense!

Carlos Adames withdrew from his scheduled WBC middleweight title defense against Austin “Ammo” Williams tomorrow night (January 31, 2026) due to illness. Reports suggest he was hospitalized due to dehydration.
The withdrawal was announced on today (Friday), just one day before the fight was scheduled to take place at Madison Square Garden in New York City as part of the Teofimo Lopez vs. Shakur Stevenson undercard. The promoters are scrambling to find a New York licensed, middleweight replacement, in an effort to keep Williams on the card. There are several ironies to consider as this development unfolds:

Adames was elevated from interim WBC champion to full champion status on May 7, 2024, after waiting for then champion Jermall Charlo to defend against him and it never materialized. Adames has fought only once a year in 2022, ’23, ’24 and ’25, mimicking a similar path as Charlo.

As for Austin Williams, he was highly rated in the IBF, hoping for a shot at unified (IBF/WBO) champion Janibek Alimkhanuly. Alimkhanuly failed a PED test before his planned unification bout with WBA champion Erislandy Lara. Alimkhanuly had his “B” sample tested three weeks ago on January 8th and he subsequently failed that as well. There still has been no action by either the WBO or IBF in terms of stripping Alimkhanuly, as they await an investigative hearing by the Kazakhstan Professional Boxing Federation to determine how the banned substance (Meldonium) got into Alimkhanuly’s system, consciously or otherwise. For Williams, these proceedings prompted him to go the WBC title route, which led to him being dropped by the IBF, but he is still ranked #9 by the WBO. Either way, despite his three-fight win streak after suffering his only loss- a TKO11 to Hamzah Sheeraz in June 2024, he is a man without a title shot, through no fault of his own.

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