Eddie Hearn has officially announced a four-week fight camp which will see British boxing resume throughout August, headlined by an intriguing Week 4 where Dillian Whyte finally faces Alexander Povetkin for the WBC interim world heavyweight title and WBA lightweight champion Katie Taylor also features.
Eddie Hearn’s ambitious plans to return to boxing are moving forward, as he and Matchroom have today announced the full schedule for Fight Camp.
Described as an “unrivalled summer of elite boxing” at their HQ in Brentwood, Essex, the first three weeks will be shown live on Sky Sports (UK) and DAZN (US), before the final week is pay-per-view on Sky Sports Box Office.
There will be multiple five-fight encounters, from British and Commonwealth title fights to rescheduled heavyweight battles.
Whyte faces a risk against Povetkin (35-2-1) as part of their PPV event in late August. Elsewhere in the division on the same card, Martin Bakole (15-1, 12 KOs) faces Russia’s Sergey Kuzmin (15-11, 11 KOs), in what promises to be an interesting watch.
Before then though, there is plenty of action for fight fans to look forward to.
WBC and IBO featherweight champion Terri Harper (10-0, 5 KOs) is in for a difficult title defence, while super-bantamweight prospect Shannon Courtenay (5-0, 2 KOs) and super-welterweight Anthony Fowler (12-1, 9 KOs) also feature in the first few weeks.
How the unique boxing setting will appear from Brentwood, Essex in August
The four cards are as follows:
August 1 – Week 1
IBF international super-welterweight title: Sam Eggington vs Ted Cheeseman
Vacant British lightweight title: James Tennyson vs Gavin Gwynne
Featherweight: Jordan Gill vs Reece Bellotti
Vacant English heavyweight title: Fabio Wardley vs Simon Vallily
Featherweight: Dalton Smith vs Nathan Bennett
August 7 – Week 2
WBC, IBO world super-featherweight titles: Terri Harper vs Tasha Jonas
Commonwealth cruiserweight title: Chris Billam-Smith vs Nathan Thorley
Super-welterweight: Anthony Fowler vs Adam Harper
Lightweight: Aqib Fiaz vs Kane Baker
Super-bantamweight prospect Hopey Price (2-0) will also be in action, opponent TBC
August 14 – Week 3
Commonwealth middleweight title: Felix Cash vs Jason Welborn
Super-bantamweight: Shannon Courtenay vs Rachel Ball
Super-welterweight: Kieron Conway vs Nav Mansouri
Super-featherweight: Zelfa Barrett vs Eric Donovan
Super-middleweight John Docherty will also feature here, opponent TBC
August 22 – Week 4, live on PPV
WBC interim heavyweight title: Dillian Whyte vs Alexander Povetkin
Katie Taylor to defend her undisputed world lightweight crown, opponent TBC
Heavyweight: Martin Bakole vs Sergey Kuzmin
WBO global welterweight title: Luther Clay vs Chris Kongo
On Taylor-Serrano, which was initially scheduled before the coronavirus-enforced shutdown:
Unsurprisingly, Sky Sports’ head of boxing development Adam Smith was full of praise as boxing returns to Britain for the first time since March in little over a month’s time.
He was quoted as saying: “Eddie Hearn has supplied a sizzling summer schedule in August, starting with three Sky Sports shows packed with British talent.”
He described Eggington-Cheeseman as a bout that should be a classic, while namechecking Jordan Gill, Fabio Wardley an Dalton Smith as fighters eager to impress.
In addition, there was an interesting update regarding Joshua-Pulev – as they hope pushing the date back further will allow for a crowd, even if it remains limited attendance by November:
Mo and Sports 