By Elisinio Castillo

As previously reported on BoxingScene.com, Luis Ortiz (27-0, 23 KO) will not be able to fight on April 22 after suffering a fracture on his left thumb.

He was scheduled to fight next Saturday night against Derric Rossy (31-12, 15 KO's) as part of the undercard to Shawn Porter vs. Andre Berto at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Ortiz is the mandatory challenger to the vacant WBA heavyweight title, which is up for grabs when Wladimir Klitschko and Anthony Joshua collide on April 29th at Wembley. The IBF, IBO belts will also be at stake in that fight.

It will remain to be seen if the winner will actually agree to face Ortiz, who has been avoided by numerous fighters in the division. The Joshua-Klitschko winner will also have another mandatory obligation, to Kubrat Pulev, who is the top rated challenger under the IBF.

"Luis was determined to fight [with Rossy]," said manager Jay Jimenez to George Ebro. "But in the end he understood that we could not risk the future reward, which is to go against the winner between Klitschko and Joshua. It was not worth it. ''

"Now we just have to wait for him to heal completely and, more than that, wait for the winner of the April 29 fight between those two world champions. Luis is the mandatory challenger to face whoever wins that fight in England. ''

Ortiz recently signed on with powerful adviser Al Haymon, who also handles several other heavyweight including WBC champion Deontay Wilder.

Ortiz visited a hand specialist on Friday who confirmed the fracture and recommended at least four weeks of rest. The Cuban puncher uses his left hand in the form of an insistent jab and throws it at full of strength before unloading a right hand.

As far as getting his hands on Wilder, the WBC has ordered 'the Bronzer Bomber' to make a mandatory defense against former world champion Bermane Stiverne.