Saturday notebook: Hearn unveils schedule with Povetkin-Whyte II, Warrington, Okolie, Benn
Kovalev card canceled, Beterbiev-Deines rescheduled
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn unveiled five cards on Friday, with the expected rematch between heavyweights Alexander Povetkin and Dillian Whyte the most significant bout.
With the British Boxing Board of Control announcing this week that events, minus spectators, can resume in mid-February, Hearn had the green light to finalize the events, all of which will take places at United Kingdom sites to be determined and stream on DAZN in the United States and more than 200 countries and territories. In the U.K. they will air on Sky Sports with Povetkin-Whyte II a pay-per-view on Sky Sports Box Office.
Here’s a look at the five shows in chronological order:
Feb. 13: Featherweight world titlist Josh Warrington (30-0, 7 KOs), of England, who hoped to meet China’s Xu Can in a unification fight, will have to wait at least one more bout. Instead, he will meet Mexico’s Mauricio Lara (21-2, 14 KOs), although it has not yet been determined if the bout will be for Warrington’s belt or if it will be a nontitle fight.
In the co-feature, junior lightweight Zelfa Barrett (24-1, 15 KOs) defends his regional belt against former junior featherweight world titlist Kiko Martinez (41-9-2, 29 KOs). Also, Leigh Wood (23-2, 13 KOs) faces Reece Mould (13-0, 6 KOs) for the vacant British featherweight title. Prospects Dalton Smith (6-0, 5 KOs), a junior welterweight, and featherweight Hopey Price (3-0, 1 KO) will also be in action.
Feb. 20: European welterweight champion David Avanesyan (26-3-1, 14 KOs), of Russia, will defend against England’s Josh Kelly (10-0-1, 6 KOs) in a fight that has been postponed several times, most recently from Jan. 30 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Other bouts include Florian Marku (7-0-1, 5 KOs) vs. Rylan Charlton (6-0-1, 3 KOs) in a welterweight fight and junior middleweight Anthony Fowler (13-1, 10 KOs) against Jorge Fortea (21-2-1, 7 KOs).
March 6: Russia’s Povetkin (36-2-1, 25 KOs) will make the first defense of his WBC interim heavyweight title in a rematch with Whyte (27-2, 18 KOs), of England, originally slated for Nov. 21 but postponed because Povetkin contracted Covid-19. Then it was postponed again from Jan. 30 because he had not fully recovered. In the Aug. 22 first meeting, Povetkin, who had been knocked down twice, rallied to score a sensational one-punch knockout win in the fifth round to claim the interim belt.
The co-feature has not been set yet but Ted Cheeseman (16-2-1, 9 KOs) will face James Metcalf (21-0, 13 KOs) for the vacant British junior middleweight title on the undercard and heavyweight Fabio Wardley (10-0, 9 KOs) will face former world title challenger Eric Molina (27-6, 19 KOs). Also, junior lightweight Campbell Hatton, the son of British legend Ricky Hatton, will make his pro debut.
March 20: England’s Lawrence Okolie (15-0, 12 KOs) and former world titlist Krzysztof Glowacki (31-2, 19 KOs), of Poland, will meet for the vacant WBO cruiserweight title. The fight had been set for Dec. 12 on the Anthony Joshua-Kubrat Pulev card but Glowacki dropped out after a positive Covid-19 test and Okolie stopped late sub Nikodem Jezewski in the second round.
Also, Chantelle Cameron (13-0, 7 KOs) will make the first defense of her WBC women’s junior welterweight title vs. Melissa Hernandez (23-7-3, 7 KOs) and Chris Billam-Smith (11-1, 10 KOs) and Deion Jumah (13-0, 7 KOs) meet for the vacant British cruiserweight title.
April 10: Welterweight Conor Benn (17-0, 11 KOs), son of British legend Nigel Benn, will defend his regional title vs. battle-tested Colombian Samuel Vargas (31-6-2, 14 KOs). Benn is coming off a career-best shutout win against Sebastian Formella on Nov. 21. Vargas has lost to Errol Spence Jr., Danny Garcia and Amir Khan.
On the undercard, Rachel Ball (7-1) and Shannon Courtenay (6-1, 3 KOs) will meet in a rematch for a vacant women’s bantamweight world title and Savannah Marshall (9-0, 7 KOs) will make the first defense of her super middleweight world title against an opponent to be named.
“Even in a pandemic I feel like this is the strongest start to a year Matchroom have had in a long time,” Hearn said. “It's going to be a rough ride over the next couple of months but with plenty of drama and excitement along the way. We have some thrilling main events and stacked cards that feature some of the biggest names in British boxing returning to action as we look to make a real statement in 2021.”
Kovalev card canceled
It comes as no surprise but the DAZN card Golden Boy was scheduled to put on Jan. 30 at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California, was canceled Friday.
The card was doomed when former three-time light heavyweight titlist Sergey Kovalev (34-4-1, 29 KOs), who due fight Bektemir “Bek Bully” Melikuziev (6-0, 5 KOs) in the 178-pound catch weight main event, tested positive for synthetic testosterone in a sample he gave to the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association on Dec. 30 in Las Vegas. The results were returned Wednesday night.
“Upon learning of Kovalev’s adverse finding, the California State Athletic Commission determined that they must cancel the event,” Golden Boy said in a statement. “While we are crushed for ‘The Bully’, we know that he will nevertheless have a tremendous year in 2021. We look forward to our next scheduled boxing event on Feb. 13.”
In reality, it was more than just the Kovalev positive test that caused the card to be canceled. According to a source with knowledge of the details, there were a variety of issues meeting deadlines for Covid-19-related testing and logistics after the show was moved this week from the Luzhniki Arena in Moscow to Fantasy Springs because of the worsening Covid-19 situation.
Beterbiev fight rescheduled (again)
Unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev’s oft-delayed defense against fellow Russia native Adam Deines has been rescheduled for March 20, the WBC announced. According to a source with knowledge of the plans it will take place at Megasport Arena in Moscow. A formal announcement from Top Rank, Beterbiev’s promoter, is expected next week.
In late December, Beterbiev tested positive for Covid-19, forcing yet another postponement of the bout, which was supposed to take place Jan. 30 at VTB Arena in Moscow. It was previously been postponed from Sept. 25 in Ekaterinburg, Russia and then from Oct. 23 in Moscow, the reason for that delay due to a Beterbiev rib injury.
Even before that Montreal-based Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs), 35, a two-time Olympian, was due to fight in March in Quebec City against mandatory challenger Meng Fanlong but it was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Deines eventually got the shot because Meng had visa issues that wouldn’t allow him fight in Russia.
Beterbiev hasn’t fought since stopping Oleksandr Gvozdyk in the 10th round to unify two world titles in October 2019 in Philadelphia. Germany-based Deines (19-1-1, 10 KOs), 29, has won two in a row since a decision loss to Meng in a June 2019 eliminator.
Quick hits
The WBC has ordered flyweight titlist Julio Cesar Martinez (17-1, 13 KOs), 25, of Mexico, to next fight mandatory challenger McWilliams Arroyo (20-4, 15 KOs), 35, of Puerto Rico. Martinez, who has made two defenses, and Arroyo were due to fight Aug. 15 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but the bout was canceled. Martinez, who had a defense against Francisco Rodriguez on the Dec. 19 Canelo Alvarez-Callum Smith card canceled for a non-Covid 19 illness, last fought in October, when he knocked out Moises Calleros in the second round. Arroyo, who is 0-3 in world title bouts, has won three fights in a row but been idle since December 2019.
Blue-chip featherweight prospect Marc Castro (1-0, 1 KO), 21, of Fresno, California, will have his second pro fight on Feb. 27 or March 13 on a Matchroom Boxing card on DAZN, according to manager Keith Connolly. It’ll be Feb. 27 on the Canelo Alvarez-Avni Yilidirm undercard if Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn finalizes a deal with Alvarez to promote that fight. If not, Connolly said Castro would fight on the March 10 undercard of the Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez-Juan Francisco Estrada rematch to unify junior bantamweight titles. Castro made his pro fight Dec. 19 on the Alvarez-Callum Smith undercard and knocked out Luis Valdes in the third round.
Connolly also manages red-hot Top Rank super middleweight prospect Edgar Berlanga (16-0, 16 KOs), who has won all of his bouts by first-round knockout, and said he’d fight in early April on an ESPN card. Connolly said if all goes well and spectators are permitted, Berlanga, 23, of Brooklyn, New York, would fight an increased level of opponent in June on a card on the Puerto Rican Day Parade weekend in New York.
Promoter Jimmy Burchfield’s CES Boxing announced it has signed a multi-year extension with UFC Fight Pass to continue streaming its events (as well as its CES MMA cards). CES has had more than a dozen events on the streaming platform over the past two years.
Quotable
“That’s good for us to mix it up at 135 and may the best man win. I’m all for it,” -- Gervonta Davis on the prospect of a round-robin of fights between him and the three other lightweight young guns, Teofimo Lopez, Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney
Photo: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
I love the notebook!!!!!!!
Agreed re: this new platform. Do I see an unannounced title change?