After formally asserting Dmitry Bivol vs Artur Beterbiev for the undipsuted mild heavyweight title on June 1st and Riyadh, Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn took the stage with 10 masked pugilists to steadily reveal the lineup for his or her long-brewing 5 Vs 5 showdown.
First got here Daniel Dubois (20-2, 19 KO), who battles Matchroom’s Filip Hrgovic (17-0, 14 KO) within the first of two heavyweight showdowns. There’s an actual likelihood this might flip right into a title bout earlier than struggle night time; Hrgovic is the IBF obligatory challenger and Dubois isn’t any. 4, so if the winner of Usyk vs Fury vacates to honor the rematch clause, there’s no purpose to not sanction it.
Down at 126, Raymond Ford (15-0-1, 8 KO) makes the primary protection of his newly acquired WBA title towards Queensberry’s Nick Ball (19-0-1, 11 KO), whom Eddie Hearn inadvertently named early whereas hyping up Dubois vs Hrgovic. Ford, recent off of surprising Otabek Kholmatov within the closing seconds, was beforehand anticipated to vacate the belt and transfer to 130, however will as a substitute give Ball one other shot on the huge time after falling agonizingly brief towards Rey Vargas.
At 160, Hamzah Sheeraz (19-0, 15 KO) carries the Queensberry flag towards Austin “Ammo” Williams (16-0, 11 KO). Each take pleasure in top-five spots in a number of sanctioning our bodies’ rankings and may make for a high quality scrap.
15 kilos north, Matchroom calls upon Craig Richards (18-3-1, 11 KO) to struggle Willy Hutchinson (17-1, 13 KO), breaking Scott’s three-for-three prediction streak. Richards is 2-2 in his final 4, however gave stable accounts of himself towards each Bivol and Joshua Buatsi, whereas the 25-year-old Hutchinson is 4-0 with 4 finishes since falling to Lennox Clarke in 2021.
As for the wildcard heavyweight choose, Zhang Zhilei (26-2-1, 21 KO) reps Queensberry towards Deontay Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KO). Even with their current defeats, I don’t must promote you on this one; it would as nicely be a sanctioned pistol duel.
Somewhat than simply do greatest of 5, every struggle provides the profitable promoter two factors for a end or one level for a call, with the captains (Sheeraz and Wilder) receiving double factors.
