The spread of coronavirus is having an increasingly significant effect on boxing.
The card featuring Shakur Stevenson’s featherweight title defense against Miguel Marriaga on Saturday will be conducted without fans in the stands at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, according to The Athletic.
Top Rank CEO Bob Arum said the event “goes on without the public.”
Arum said a second card, featuring featherweight prospect Michael Conlan on Tuesday at Hulu Theater, also will not have spectators.
Multiple boxing cards have been canceled in Europe and Canada, according to reports. An Olympic qualifier involving American boxers was called off. And Top Rank already moved a card featuring 140-pound titleholder Jose Ramirez vs. Viktor Postol from China – where the virus originated – to Fresno, Ramirez’s hometown.
Of course, the pandemic has affected other sports worldwide. In the U.S., the NBA suspended it’s season “until further notice” after one player, Rudy Gobert, tested positive for coronavirus. And the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be played without spectators.