Eddie Hearm reportedly has a plan in place to restart boxing in July on the grounds of Matchroom Boxing’s U.K. headquarters.
The Daily Mail is reporting that Hearn intends to stage five-fight outdoor cards on four consecutive Saturdays beginning in mid-July on the promotional company’s property in Brentwood, Essex, outside London.
The first main event will be a title fight between Terri Harper and Natasha Jonas, according to the report. A heavyweight fight between Dillian Whyte and Alexander Povetkin will be featured on the final show.
Only 90 people will be on site because of coronavirus restrictions. No spectators will be allowed.
“Financially this will be painful for us but after the momentum we have worked so hard to build over the past 10 years, I’m not going to let boxing just dribble back,” Hearn said. “While other guys go with arena and empty studios, ours will look very different.
“Just imagine it. It is summer, the house is all lit up, you can see Canary Wharf in the distance and fireworks are going off. Then over the hill walk Dillan Whyte and Alexander Povetkin for a massive tear up on my lawn.
“World championship boxing in my garden? Oh, go on then.”
The series has a working title of “Matchroom Fight Camp.”
“We cannot just bring boxing back with a dark studio,” Hearn said. “We have built our product on the razzmatazz, the sexiness and the drama. It has all been about building that moment for a fight, so we cannot afford to just bring people out like a game show.
“We want to create a gladiatorial environment that ill not only ensure compelling viewing but will also ensure fighters can perform at the highest level.”
He went on: “It is a huge mission. We are going to turn our headquarters here into an outdoor venue for live boxing, with a full canopy in the middle of the garden and the ring overlooking London. We are building changing rooms for the fighters, setting up a space for a ring walk, and figuring out how we can do everything you need for this kind of production with as few people as possible.
“… We are in talks with a nearby hotel about taking control of it for each of the weeks. The way it will work is everyone involved — the fighters, their teams, the broadcasters — will go into the hotel on Tuesday and the fighter and their team will go to a testing facility at the hotel. You will go in, get tested, be handed a room key and go straight to your room, where you will wait until you get the result of the test.
“The tests are comprehensive and they take 24 hours, so the fighter will stay in their room until they get a call from our doctors, likely on the Wednesday, with their results. If they are positive, they will leave the hotel immediately. If they are not, they are able to leave their room and take part in the obligations of fight week, all with social distancing.
“Everyone involved in the show, from top to bottom, will have to go through that process before they are allowed on to our premises. In terms of fight-week promotion, that is the other side of the challenge. How do you do the media around it? Obviously we cannot have dozens of journalists turning up and sitting shoulder to shoulder for a presser and a weigh-in like normal.
“So we need to decide how it will go. It is likely that Zoom interviews and social media live streams with the fighters and journalists will be the new norm, and pumping out clips of the fighters around the clock, building up to the weigh-ins on the grounds on Fridays and the fights on Saturdays.”
Hearn is still working out details with government and health authorities.