Andy Lee's world title defence against Billy Joe Saunders has been moved from Thomond Park on 19 September to Manchester on 10 October.
Reports in The Irish Sun earlier this evening had indicated that the fight would be moved to a UK venue on a different date, and those rumours were confirmed by promoter Frank Warren, who said the fight would now take place at the MEN Arena and be televised on BoxNation.
The reason given for the postponement was that Limerick man Lee, 31, has been suffering from a virus that has hampered his preparations for the bout.
Lee's promoter Lou DiBella said that his trainer Andy Booth had confirmed the virus this week: "I got a call from Andy Booth who told me that Andy has been battling a virus on and off for the last couple of weeks, they are moving the fight back to 10 October."
However, earlier reports from Lee's management had indicated the boxer was training as usual - including a session this morning - and that the fight would go ahead at the home of Munster Rugby.
Warren also stated that all tickets purchased for the Thomond Park date will also be valid for the rescheduled fight in Manchester.
The fight also made headlines for the wrong reasons last week when Olympic, world and European lightweight champion Katie Taylor was pulled from the bill after a failure to agree terms.
Warren released a full statement saying: "Adam (Booth, Lee's manager) contacted me and quite correctly let me know that Andy was ill.
"Whilst they were prepared to gamble on him recovering in time, there is so much at stake for so many people, common sense had to prevail.
"We simply cannot risk this fight not happening and therefore the decision was made that we should postpone the fight to ensure it does.
"With October being such a busy month in the boxing calendar and every Saturday having a show, we could not afford to wait until November and risk going outdoors.
"The only viable option available to us was to move the fight to the Manchester Arena on 10 October, alongside Terry Flanagan's defence of his WBO lightweight title.
"It's a shame for Andy that his dream of defending his world title in Limerick cannot be fulfilled now, but this being such a big fight neither boxer can risk going into the ring at anything less than 100%.
"Also, from Billy Joe Saunders' point of view he is in a training camp in Spain and to not have a firm date for the fight would not be fair on him - so Manchester is the best solution."
Co-promoter Booth added: "Obviously, Andy and I are gutted that this won't be taking place in Limerick.
"If the virus had cleared, then maybe it could have. However, after speaking with Frank, my partner in the event, we decided that the risk was just too great on many fronts."
