By Miguel Rivera

According to Canelo Promotions, unbeaten WBC lightweight champion Omar Figueroa has withdrawn from this coming Saturday's fight with Ricardo Alvarez due to a hand injury. Figueroa was scheduled to face Alvarez on the Saul Alvarez-Alfredo Angulo Showtime Pay-Per-View undercard from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Figueroa has been suffering from a left hand injury since last July's win over Nihito Arakawa. He once again injured the hand in camp a few days and felt there was no way he could move forward with the match.

With Figueroa out, former two-division champion Jorge Linares (35-3, 23 KOs) will get a chance to shine, ironically against Arakawa (24-3-1, 16 KOs). The fight was going to take place as part of the non-PPV telecast, but now it moves up as part of the main card.