Anthony Mundine withdraws from Austin Trout fight

Austin Trout is left to search for a new opponent less than six days before his scheduled Saturday bout on CBS' Premier Boxing Champions show.

The former junior middleweight champion was set to face Anthony Mundine at the State Farm Arena in Hidalgo, Texas, but Trout told Paste BN Sports on Sunday that the Australian withdrew from the bout.

"Apparently Mundine has a busted eardrum," Trout said. "I'm not sure on the how, but he will not be participating in our fight. We are still going forward to fight Saturday, searching for a replacement (opponent) now."

Mundine's team sent out a statement from the fighter's verified Twitter account:

"Mundine is suffering from a severe ear condition which doctors say will cause him serious and potentially permanent damage if he continues with the bout. The ear condition was first noticed after sparring and got progressively worse the next day during his flight to the USA. Team Mundine sort immediate medical attention after landing in the U.S and have taken the medical advice to reschedule the fight for a later date very seriously."

Trout-Mundine was set to open the second installment of boxing power broker Al Haymon's PBC series on CBS. The Saturday afternoon show is topped by a junior welterweight fight between Omar Figueroa and Ricky Burns. The co-feature pits Jamie McDonnell against Tomoki Kameda for the WBA bantamweight belt.

Trout and Mundine (47-6, 27 KOs) were negotiating in 2012 but couldn't come to terms. Trout, 29, owned a junior middleweight title at the time.

Though the bout fell through, Trout (28-2, 15 KOs) moved on to bigger and better, topping star Miguel Cotto and then fighting on even terms with Canelo Alvarez in a loss. He followed that with a lopsided defeat to tricky Cuban fighter Erislandy Lara in December 2013.

"I definitely want to reschedule," Trout said. "(A fight with Mundine) has been a few years in the making and time is on my side more than his."

Indeed, Mundine is 39 and was dominated by Joshua Clottey last year. The bout with Trout would have been just his second in the U.S.

It's unknown at this time if Trout's fight will still be televised.