The untimely health scare endured by Kim Clavel has produced a six-week delay in her quest to add another belt to her collection.

A terrific WBC/WBA junior flyweight title unification bout between Montreal’s Clavel and Mexico City’s Jessica Nery Plata has been rescheduled for January 13 at Place Bell in Laval, Canada. Promoter Yvon Michael confirmed the news on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after being forced to postpone the show that was originally due to take place on Thursday at the same venue.

“A lucky date,” Michel quipped to BoxingScene.com, taking note of the event landing on Friday the 13th.

Clavel (16-0, 3KOs) was a medical scratch from the planned December 1 show after registering a fever of 102 degrees on Tuesday. Upon the medical advice of the examining physician, Dr. Francis Fontaine, Clavel reluctantly stepped down which in turn prompted Michel’s GYM Promotions to postpone the event as a whole.

Clavel-Nery was due to headline the card, with the unbeaten 32-year-old Montreal native emerging as a reliable box office draw and crucial to the event’s success.

The timing of the bout in original form would have been ideal, given recent activity in the junior flyweight division. Clavel-Nery was on course to take place just five days after Yokasta Valle (27-2, 9KOs) dethroned IBF/WBO 108-pound titlist Evelin Bermudez via majority decision this past Saturday at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

The fight would have been a relatively quick turnaround for Montreal’s Clavel (16-0, 3KOs), a 2020 ESPY winner for courage exhibited on the frontline as a nurse during the height of Covid who won her first major title earlier this summer. Clavel dethroned long-reigning WBC titlist Yesenia Gomez in a lopsided unanimous decision win on July 31 at Montreal Casino, after which she and her team immediately explored a title unification bout for her next contest.

“My goal is to unify the entire division within my next two to three fights,” Clavel told BoxingScene.com prior to the eventual postponement.  

A willing participant was found in Nery (28-2, 3KOs), who fights away from Mexico for her second straight title fight.

The 28-year-old Nery came up big in a ten-round split decision win over Argentina’s Yesica Bopp to claim the WBA junior flyweight title on a March 11 all-female card in Panama City, Panama. The fight marked the first outside of Mexico for Nery, who embraced the role of road warrior while looking to extend her current seven-fight win streak.

The opportunity to live out that role—and potentially spoil Clavel’s homecoming and future plans—now comes six weeks later.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox