Victor Ortiz-John Molina Jr. off, but rest of PBC card still on for Sunday

7:34 PM ET

The welterweight fight between former world titleholder Victor Ortiz and former world title challenger John Molina Jr. was canceled on Wednesday, though the rest of the show will go on as planned Sunday.

The main event was canceled one day after Ortiz turned himself in to the Oxnard (California) Police Department and was booked on three felony sexual assault charges.

He was charged by the Ventura County District Attorney's Office with forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and forcible digital penetration stemming from an alleged incident in March that police said they investigated for months before issuing a warrant for Ortiz's arrest.

Ortiz was released on $100,000 bail.

The original co-feature, a 10-round featherweight bout between Brandon Figueroa and Oscar Escandon, was moved into the main event slot of the Premier Boxing Champions card (Fox Sports 1, 9 p.m. ET) that will take place at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California.

Molina (30-7, 24 KOs), 35, of Covina, California, was hoping to defeat Ortiz (32-6-2, 25 KOs), 31, of Tarzana, California, to help springboard him toward another world title opportunity. Now he will simply be a spectator on Sunday.

"Bad news -- the fight has officially been canceled, obviously due to uncontrollable circumstances from Team Ortiz. Team Molina was ready," Molina said in a video posted to his Instagram account. "To all my friends, family and fans that were ready to see me get down on Sunday, I'll be in the house still but I apologize. We'll be in the ring real soon. Again, this is boxing and sometimes you don't know the circumstances that are going to unfold. But we were definitely ready. Thanks for all the love and support and I'll see you guys in the ring real soon."

Figueroa (16-0, 11 KOs), 21, of Weslaco, Texas, is the younger brother of former lightweight world titlist Omar Figueroa Jr. He is taking on the most formidable opponent of his career in Escandon (25-4, 17 KOs), 34, of Colombia, a former interim featherweight titlist who has lost two fights in a row by knockout -- to world titleholder Gary Russell Jr. in the seventh round in May 2017 and by third-round knockout to unbeaten prospect Tugstsogt Nyambayar on May 26.

Heavyweight up-and-comer Joe Joyce (5-0, 5 KOs), 31, who claimed the 2016 Olympic super heavyweight silver medal for Great Britain, will make his American debut in the new co-feature when he takes on battle-tested Iago Kiladze (26-3, 18 KOs), 32, a native of the Republic of Georgia fighting out of Los Angeles, in a 10-round bout.

The fight will be "Juggernaut" Joyce's first since he moved his base to the United States to train under the guidance of Abel Sanchez at his Summit Gym in Big Bear Lake, California, and signed with adviser Al Haymon. The telecast will also feature heavyweight prospect and 2016 Nigerian Olympian Efe Ajagba (6-0, 5 KOs), 24, who fights out of Houston, in a six-rounder against Mississippi native Nick Jones (7-0, 5 KOs), 31.

Ajagba's last ring appearance went viral when he faced journeyman Curtis Harper on Aug. 24 in Minneapolis. After the first bell rang to begin the fight, Harper stunningly walked out of the ring rather than fight, which resulted in Ajagba being awarded a disqualification victory.

Lightweight prospect Karlos Balderas (6-0, 5 KOs), 22, a 2016 U.S. Olympian from Santa Maria, California, was supposed to fight in a six-round bout on the card but he dropped off the show because of illness.

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