The world heavyweight title defences for Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury in December are unlikely to be affected by the nationwide lockdown for England, unless there is a further deterioration in the pandemic situation in the UK.
England went into a second lockdown on Thursday, with retail shops, restaurants, gyms and bars closed. Schools and universities have remained open, although grassroots sport has also been stopped.
The lockdown will end on December 2, before either Fury or Joshua are due to box, although elite sports has been given the green light to continue through the lockdown anyway.
The one threat to that, however, would be if medical facilities were stretched.
The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC) guidelines only allow for shows to go ahead if there is adequate medical coverage, which means doctors and paramedics at ringside and adequate availability at a nearby intensive care unit in hospital in the event of an injury.
“The biggest problem we could have is the availability of doctors and that does vary in different areas,” said Robert Smith, general secretary of the BBBoC.
“At the moment, I haven’t had any doctors pull out, but it is very early days. We are doing our best to cover everything we can, but if there comes a point, as there did at the beginning of the pandemic in March, where we cannot get the medical cover for the shows, we will have to do the same again.
“At the moment, we are not in that position.”
It is hoped that the imposition of a second lockdown will slow down the second wave of Covid-19, although it has already had an impact on some shows. Dennis Hobson has put back his drive-in event in Sheffield, originally scheduled for November 20 to December 11. The show is headlined by a British flyweight title fight between Tommy Frank and Kyle Yousaf. A Mick Hennessy show, featuring Shakan Pitters defending his British light-heavyweight title against Craig Richards, was pushed back from November 14 until December 11.
Smith also revealed that two non-TV shows that had been proposed – one in Scotland, one in the Midlands – had also been pushed back until next year.
“In reality, the only people who can run at the moment financially are the TV promoters,” Smith said. “But nobody is making any money at the moment, it is just a matter if keeping things going.”
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.
