Felix Diaz forced to withdraw from fight after taking shot to the balls

Junior welterweight contender Felix Diaz was due to return Thursday night in Cancun, Mexico. However, Diaz (19-2, 9 KO's), 34, a 2008 Olympic gold medalist from the Dominican Republic, was forced to withdraw from the fight in rather embarrassing and painful fashion after suffering an injury during a Dec. 13 sparring session.

"He forgot his [protective] cup one day, so he sparred without it and got nailed in the balls," promoter Lou DiBella told ESPN. "It caused a real injury. He's got badly bruised testicles. He took a major shot to the balls without a cup, and it caused a lot of swelling.

"We were trying to get Felix a fight before the end of the year. He's been eager to fight It's a cringe-worthy injury, but sometimes life's a pain in the balls. He'll be back when his balls are better, hopefully in January."

Diaz fought for his world title as a professional in May, but was dominated and stopped inside 10 rounds by Terence Crawford.