AS if announcing a long-anticipated light-heavyweight showdown between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol this afternoon (April 15) in London wasn’t enough, what then followed this announcement was confirmation of an undercard as good as we have seen in the sport for some time.
All part of the Queensberry vs. Matchroom concept first proposed by Turki Alalshikh, the Bivol vs. Beterbiev undercard is essentially being billed as “5 vs. 5” and will consist of five Queensberry boxers going up against five boxers from Matchroom. This not only gives the boxers involved a platform like no other but it also gives the two promotional companies, Queensberry and Matchroom, the chance to put their boxers to the test and find out once and for all which of the two stables is currently on top.
The announced fights:
Heavyweight: Filip Hrgovic, 17-0 (14) vs Daniel Dubois, 20-2 (19)
Featherweight: Raymond Ford, 15-0-1 (8) vs Nick Ball, 19-0-1 (11)
Middleweight: Ammo Williams, 16-0 (11) vs Hamzah Sheeraz, 19-0 (15)
Light-heavyweight: Craig Richards, 18-3-1 (11) vs Willy Hutchinson, 17-1 (13)
Heavyweight: Deontay Wilder, 43-3-1 (42) vs Zhilei Zhang, 26-2-1 (22)
The rules of the event:
The weight classes were decided by both promoters, Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn, who chose two weight classes each. The fifth weight class was then decided by Turki Alalshikh, the one who initially proposed the idea and is hosting it.
In terms of scoring, there will be one point for a decision win; two points for a referee’s stoppage or TKO; a draw means zero points. Also, the score total of an appointed captain (Wilder for Matchroom; Sheeraz for Queensberry) will be doubled.