By Elliot Foster
Frank Buglioni has been forced to deal with a last-minute opponent change ahead of his next fight.
The Enfield light-heavyweight had been due to challenge Commonwealth champion Callum Johnson for his title, exclusively live on Sky Sports Box Office.
Buglioni was meant to box Johnson, with his British title also at stake, on the undercard to Anthony Joshua IBF, IBO and WBA Super heavyweight world title defence against Carlos Takam at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
But the 28-year-old (20-2-1, 15 KOs) will now defend his Lonsdale belt against former Southern Area champion Craig Richards after the withdrawal of ‘The One’ for personal reasons.
‘Spider’ Richards, 27, had previously campaigned at super-middleweight, but has stepped up to the 175-pound division as he bids to wrest domestic honours from former WBA ‘regular’ 168-pound title challenger Buglioni.
Their clash, on the Joshua vs. Takam card, is flanked by a number of good fights as Kal Yafai makes a mandatory defence of his WBA super-flyweight world title against undefeated Sho Ishida from Japan.
Katie Taylor challenges for the WBA female lightweight title against Anahi Esther Sanchez, Dave Allen gets a second crack at the Commonwealth heavyweight crown as he challenges Lenroy Thomas in a rematch of their May showdown and Dillian Whyte clashes with Robert Helenius with the vacant WBC Silver title at stake.
Meanwhile, there is action for Lawrence Okolie and Joshua Buatsi, with Joe Cordina set to vie for his first title in just his fifth outing as a pro.
Watch Anthony Joshua vs. Carlos Takam live on Sky Sports Box Office on Saturday from 6pm. Book via your Sky remote or online at http://skysports.com/joshua.
