Promoter Eddie Hearn has confirmed that a series of August fight nights will take place in his garden, with Dillian Whyte’s heavyweight showdown against Alexander Povetkin the standout bout.
Boxing, like most other sports, went on a hiatus earlier this year when the coronavirus pandemic spread across the world.
However, boxing and UFC cards have recently returned in the United States behind closed doors, and Matchroom promoter Hearn had spoken of his ambitious plans to resume boxing in the United Kingdom, too, in a special ring built in the garden of the Matchroom office in Essex, outside London.
Matchroom’s “Fight Camp” will see boxers brought into a bubble before fighting on four nights from August 1 to August 22.
The final night will see Katie Taylor put her lightweight titles on the line against an as-yet-unnamed opponent before Whyte and Povetkin meet in a heavyweight fight.
“We’ve of course got Madison Square Garden, this is Matchroom Square Garden,” Hearn told Sky Sports. “We’ve been working diligently with the British Boxing Board of Control for the last three months. We’re in a position where we know the procedures that have to take place to make the sport safe to return.
“We feel like we’ve done it at the right time, we feel like everything’s safe. We’ve got a brilliant schedule of fights lined up and we can’t wait to bring boxing back to your screens.
“We have no crowd, we don’t have the 80,000 singing ‘Sweet Caroline’ and have the energy of the audience, but what we do have is the beauty of boxing, the rawness of the sport.
“We need to make sure those fights are compelling.”
Whyte has long been the mandatory challenger for the belt held by Tyson Fury, who is set to face Deontay Wilder for a third time after taking the strap off the American in February.
A path to a future fight with Fury has been further complicated by the titleholder having already agreed two bouts against fellow Brit Anthony Joshua, who has the rest of the division’s major belts.