Julio Cesar Chavez Jr return postponed

Former middleweight world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr has been forced to postpone his return to the ring after suffering a cut eyelid during sparring on Sunday night.

Chavez Jr was due to take on Brian Vera at the Staples Center in Los Angeles next month, nearly a full year after his last ring appearance, a unanimous points defeat to Sergio Martinez.

Following that fight Chavez Jr received a nine-month ban after testing positive for marijuana, but his return has now been shelved until later this year at the earliest.

Top Rank vice-president Carl Moretti confirmed that the entire card due for September 7 had been scrapped, with a new date being discussed as Chavez takes time to heal.

Moretti told ESPN.com: "He got cut above the eye, but I don't even know which eye, except that they told me it was serious enough where we are going to have to push back the fight a few weeks

"He can't have contact for three weeks. So we will confer with HBO and try to figure out a date when we can reschedule the fight.

"We have to match up the availability of the arena with the HBO schedule and go from there."

The 27-year-old has lost just once in a 49-fight professional career.