AMIN Jahanzeb’s bad luck has continued, with a third consecutive bout being cancelled.

The Bradford star was scheduled to fight tonight against Angolan boxer Pedro Manuel Gomes (10-3-0) at York Hall, London. However, an injury to his elbow has forced Jahanzeb to postpone the fight on short notice.

It’s the first time the 26-year-old has had to pull out of a fight and with his latest bout now off, Jahanzeb hasn’t fought since his victory over Stefan Nicolae in July last year, with Andre Grant and Reece Bellotti both calling off scheduled bouts with the Bradford fighter in recent months.

Discussing his injury, Jahanzeb said: “It’s a problem I’ve had in the past, where I’ve missed a punch and my elbow overextends. This forces my elbow to lock, but usually it only takes a few days for me to recover. This time, however, the same thing happened, and it never seemed to go away.

“I thought it would go in a couple of days, but it decided to stay on this occasion. It was going to be a good fight against a tough opponent, so I didn’t want to go into the fight with one less arm. Even if I was fighting against the worst boxer in the world I wouldn’t do that because I take it seriously, as boxing is a dangerous sport.”

Jahanzeb added: “I can’t begin to explain how frustrating this is because I’ve been through three or more camps to get to this point, and this means working tirelessly with no rest. So, it’s very frustrating, but at least it’s better than going into a fight and having a bad performance, or even worse, going in there and having to make excuses, which I’d never do by the way, once you’ve lost.

“I do feel for Gomes because I know he’s put blood, sweat and tears into it, so I know how he feels. This is why I spoke to him about my decision to pull out, so I could give him the respect he deserves. He is a good fighter; I’m no fool and I know when someone has prepared hard. It’s been playing on my mind a lot; I’ve never wanted to pull out of a fight but you have to put yourself first sometimes. I’ve been struggling to sleep with the pain the injury has caused and after speaking to my team and family, I felt it was the right decision to make.”

Jahanzeb confirmed that a rescheduled bout with Gomes is still in the pipeline, saying: “This week is all about getting the injury checked, speaking to doctors and the physios, then after that we’ll make some choices. I’ve spoken to Gomes directly so I could address a few things. I know what it’s like to prepare for a fight and then have your opponent pull out at the last minute, so I’ve apologised for that but not for my injury. I’ve promised him, no matter what happens, that he’ll 100 percent be my next opponent.

“Unfortunately, these types of injuries don’t show up on X-rays and you can’t see it physically, so sometimes it just requires rest. With the fight being so close, I couldn’t take time off.

“I’ve got Ramadan coming up, so after that, hopefully my elbow is rested up, and then we can go from there. Gomes is the man I still want to fight, so we’ll make it happen.”