By Ryan Maquiñana

Former Commonwealth featherweight champion Paul Truscott is on the next plane back to the United Kingdom after learning that he would no longer be facing unbeaten 126-pound prospect Gary Russell Jr. in Las Vegas this Saturday.

Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez confirmed the rumors that Eric Estrada would be Russell’s new opponent on the Khan-Judah undercard, according to a report from MaxBoxing.com’s Steve Kim.

Almost in disbelief, a disappointed Truscott (17-2, 2 KOs) recounted his viewpoint of the situation.

"It sounds a little fishy to me," he said. “Eric Gomez, that's who we meant to be dealing with, he spoke to my coach on the phone and said that they had heard real good things about me in the gym sparring.  But all of a sudden, the fight was off. They said because of visa problems, but I think they're pretty full of sh*t.  We're in the country.  What's the problem?”

Gomez did not immediately respond to BoxingScene’s request for comment Wednesday.

Russell, a 2008 Olympian from Capitol Heights, Md., currently stands at 16-0, 10 KOs.  Estrada, from Chicago, has a record of 9-1, 3 KOs.

Oh yeah, please add my tagline in italics at the bottom.

Writer's Note: Shortly after this article was published, Eric Gomez was able to contact BoxingScene with his side of the story:

"It was problems with [Truscott's] work visa.  I explained it to his promoter, Hatton Promotions.  We talked about it, and Paul was cool about everything after that.  We have an attorney who does visas, and he thought it would get processed and come this week, but it got delayed."

Ryan Maquiñana is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  E-mail him at rmaquinana@gmail.com , contact him on Facebook at facebook.com/rmaq28 or follow him on Twitter: @RMaq28.