Efforts to proceed with a rescheduled show in South Florida have once again fallen prey to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

A show planned for July 25 at Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino in Hallendale, Florida—to have been promoted by and featuring light heavyweight prospect Blake “BAD” Davis (5-0, 2KOs)—was shut down for the second time in as many attempts due to an emergency quarantine order issued by Miami-Dade County government on Monday.

Davis was due to face Monroe, Louisiana’s Blake LaCaze (4-8-2) on a show to have been presented by his BAD Promotions company, but will now have to wait out for a healthier climate before again attempting to set up shop.

“Miami-Dade has ordered a mandatory shutdown to all events and venues,” Davis announced on Monday. “We will be issuing refunds to all who invested in the show and we apologize but this is out of our hands. The [b]est show in Florida will return again at a later date.”

The hybrid card—titled 'Only The Strong Survive 2' and which also advertised a mixed martial arts (MMA) bout—was originally due to take place on March 20, but was among a slew of late winter and early spring cards to get wiped out due to the initial wave of COVID-19. As the state began to reopen, plans were set in motion to reschedule the event for July 25, to stream live as an independent Pay-Per-View carried by Fite TV.

An executive order issued throughout the county revealed that the area would shut down with the exception of essential businesses, which will go into effect on Wednesday.

“I am signing an emergency order that will close restaurants (except for takeout and delivery services), along with ballrooms, banquet facilities, party venues, gyms and fitness centers, and short-term rentals,” Carlos Gimenez, mayor of Miami-Dade announced on Monday. “These closings, among others that will be included in the order, will be effective Wednesday, July 8, 2020.

“We want to ensure that our hospitals continue to have the staffing necessary to save lives.”

The declaration came on the same day that Rick DeSantis, governor of Florida announced that all grade schools in state will reopen in August, despite the uptick of positive test cases. The state of Florida as a whole has generated record-breaking numbers for all of the wrong reasons, including a single-day record of 11,436 positive test cases reported on July 3. The three-day Independence Day weekend as a whole saw the Sunshine State rack up an absurd 27,700 cases, with the state as a whole claiming 206,000 total cases since the start of the pandemic, third only to New York and California.

Florida was the first state to allow combat sports of any kind beginning with a pro wrestling PPV event in late April. The order opened the door for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to stage several shows in Jacksonville in early May before relocating to Las Vegas.

The first—and only—show to take place in Florida during the pandemic came on June 27, with junior welterweight contender Ryan Martin fighting for the first time in nearly two years. The 27-year old scored a 6th round stoppage of Carlos Winston Velazquez atop a six-fight show in Plant City, part of Central Florida.

The July 25 show was to have also featured junior middleweight Mark ‘Bazooka’ DeLuca (24-2, 13KOs) in a scheduled six-round fight versus South Carolina’s Javier Frazier (8-14-1, 4KOs). The bout would have been the first for DeLuca—a 32-year old southpaw from Whitman, Massachusetts—since a one-sided 7th round knockout loss to former welterweight titlist Kell Brook this past February on the road in Sheffield, England.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox