A crowd of 1,000 is set attend Anthony Joshua’s world heavyweight title defence against Kubrat Pulev on December 12.

The UK Government announced plans to allow spectators to return to sporting events on Monday when the present England lockdown ends on December 2.

While outdoor events will be allowed up to 4,000 spectators, indoor events will be allowed to admit 1,000 paying spectators.

Fans have not been allowed to attend boxing events since the first pandemic lockdown began in March.

Eddie Hearn's Matchroom team have drawn up several plans to allow fans to attend while remaining socially distanced.

The fight, for Joshua’s WBA, WBO, IBO and IBF titles was originally scheduled for June at the 60,000-capacity Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

It is presently due to be held at the O2 Arena, in London, which was booked when Hearn had hopes of admitting more than 4,000 fans.

However, it could be switched to the SSE Arena, Wembley, where Hearn has so far staged three shows of its planned four-night residency. Either venue would be able to allow crowds within the British Boxing Board of Control’s protocol, which would have a “red zone” at ringside where no fans would be allowed to go.

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for Boxing Scene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.