Jazza Dickens’ first defence of his WBA super-featherweight world title has been called off because of a facial injury to opponent Hayato Tsutsumi.

The fight was scheduled to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 27 December.

But Japanese prospect Tsutsumi, who is unbeaten in eight bouts, sustained an orbital floor fracture – an injury to the bone beneath the eye socket – during training, according to the Ring magazine, external.

Liverpool’s Dickens was recently upgraded to super-featherweight world champion after American Lamont Roach Jr was stripped of the title.

The 34-year-old has won 36 of his 41 fights but last fought in July when he stopped Russia’s Albert Batyrgaziev in round four to win the WBA interim belt.

“This morning, as soon as I opened my eyes and when I looked at my messages, I got a body shot,” Dickens said in a video on his YouTube channel.

“That’s what if feels like when you get bad news. Yeah, fight’s off.

“Experience teaches you along the way that these things happen. But I would say the worst time this has happened is obviously now because for whatever is on the line – world title fight, first defence.”

Dickens is Britain’s fourth reigning male champion, along with Nick Ball, Lewis Crocker and Fabio Wardley.

He has competed across three weight classes and was British champion at super-bantamweight and European champion at featherweight.