Welcome Back: Boxing Schedule
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Let us go back to March when dozens of boxing cards were scheduled to take place around the world — big and small — were postponed or canceled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. One show after another was removed from the schedule, leaving fighters, promoters, broadcasters, venues, and fans alike with no idea when boxing or sports would resume.
The UFC decided to go on with some of their scheduled fights but then decided to follow the rest of the sports world by canceling or postponing some of their scheduled cards. Combat sports had come to a screeching halt. Then the UFC decided to have fights with no fans in their performance center in Las Vegas, Nevada and they set up another base for fights in Abu Dhabi on Yas Island.
For boxing, most fans felt the sport could follow in the steps of the UFC by staging events with no fans. On June 9, boxing returned as a fight between undefeated American Shakur Stevenson, the WBO featherweight world champion, faced Felix Caraballo. Stevenson finished Caraballo in the sixth round after a powerful body shot.
The pageantry of the fighter walkouts was gone but the sound of the action had returned. The event put on by Top Rank Promotions and televised on ESPN was the trial event. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said after the fight that, “Holding boxing behind closed doors is a ‘temporary’ solution,” and he thinks by 2021 we will be back to some kind of normal but do we know that for a fact? No. There may not be any fans in attendance but for boxing fans, the sport has made its return.
Boxing is known for PPV events and it will need to adapt to this new age without fans. Some fights will need to be televised for free to keep fans engaged with the sport. Although, this past weekend boxing had its first PPV card since returning which featured Jermell and Jermall Charlo. The price of the event was a costly $74.95.
Boxing has made a good comeback and several top-notch fights are scheduled for the remainder of 2020:
Oct. 17: Las Vegas, Nevada – Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Teofimo Lopez Jr., 12 rounds, for Lomachenko’s WBO and WBA titles and Lopez’s IBF title
Oct. 24: Uncasville, Connecticut – Gervonta Davis vs. Leo Santa Cruz, 12 rounds, for Davis’ WBA lightweight title and Santa Cruz’s WBA junior lightweight title
Oct. 24: TBA – Oleksandr Usyk vs. Dereck Chisora, 12 rounds, heavyweight
Nov. 21: TBA – Errol Spence Jr. vs. Danny Garcia, 12 rounds, for Spence’s IBF and WBC welterweight titles
Nov. 28: Carson, California – Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr., 8 round exhibition, heavyweights
Welcome back, boxing!
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