British Boxing on the Rocks With An Uncertain Worldwide Future
Editorial By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Much like vodka on the rocks, professional boxing in the United Kingdom, from Great Britain to Scotland, is on the rocks, with an uncertain future in 2022. The British Boxing Board of Control has shut down boxing, in the least, for the month of January 2022. Other sports could follow suit.
With Super Bowl LVI scheduled at Los Angeles Stadium for February 13, 2021, telecast on NBC by NBC Sports, a complete worldwide shutdown of all sports and athletics is unlikely in the face of the spread of the Omicron Variant of the COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus Pandemic, because too much money and prestige is at stake. The odds of a Super Bowl XVI cancellation are practically none, as pro football and the Super Bowl is the big event of the year for football fanatics. This correlates to boxing, because the Super Bowl advertisers, attendees, participants, and television worldwide networks are already committed to the event, as well as the bookies. Betting in the United Kingdom, boxing or not, is one area, legal or illegal, which has never shut down, despite the Omicron evolving crisis.
Chris Eubank Jr., 31-2 with 23 knockouts, Brighton, Sussex, United Kingdom, is regarded as the best middleweight in the world not to hold a title. His proposed scheduled middleweight bout with Liam “The Machine” Williams, 23-3-1 with 18 knockouts, Clydach Vale, Wales, United Kingdom, already postponed due a shoulder injury sustained in training by Williams, is now on the rocks indefinitely. February 2022 is a possibility, but until the BBBofC gives a green light for resuming boxing, February 2022 or otherwise, rescheduling is not possible because nobody knows what’s going to happen.
Also caught in the middle of the Omicron crisis is former International Boxing Federation World Welterweight champion Kell Brook, 39-3 with 27 knockouts, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom, inactive for 14 months since challenging Terence Crawford for the WBO World Welterweight title and getting stopped in the fourth round at The Bubble, MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada in November 2020. Brook remains scheduled to fight former World Boxing Association World Super Lightweight champion Amir Khan, 34-5 with 21 knockouts, Bolton, Lancashire, United Kingdom, at Manchester Arena on February 19, 2022. Brook versus Khan is caught in purgatory, scheduled with no guarantee boxing will resume before then in the decision of the BBBofC.
Of the nine boxing cards scheduled in the United Kingdom on February 26, 2022, at SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland, also caught up in the Omicron controversy is southpaw Josh Taylor, 18-0 with 13 knockouts, Haddington, Scotland, United Kingdom, the undisputed World Super Lightweight champion, who is scheduled to defend his WBAS, WBC, IBF and WBO titles against top challenger Jack Catterall, 26-0 with 13 knockouts, Chroley, Lancashire, United Kingdom.
On February 11, 2021, at York Hall, Bethnal Green, London, 13-0-1 Danny Dighum of Bowers Gifford Essex, is scheduled to make his third defense of the World Boxing Organisation European Middleweight title against 17-3 challenger Grant Dennis of Chatham Kent. 13-0 Gary Cully of Naas, Ireland, will make the first defense of his World Boxing Organisation European Lightweight title against 14-1 Artjoms Ratlavs of Riga, Latvia.
Thirteen additional boxing cards have already been scheduled in the United Kingdom between March and June 2022, the biggest name being 41-5 former Commonwealth British Empire Super Lightweight champion Willie Limond, scheduled to return May 13, 2021, in a card at the Normandie Hotel in Renfrew. Four BBBofC Southern Area regional title bouts are also schedule in March 2022.
What to do? The January 2022 scheduled bouts and cards in the United Kingdom are scrapped and have to be rescheduled. They cannot be slotted at locations where cards are already scheduled between February and June 2022. The only alternative is to try to shift the fights from the January 2022 cards to the later cards from February to June 2022, with no guarantee those cards will not be cancelled or postponed as well in the face of Omicron.
With Tyson Fury versus Dillian White, and Anthony Joshua versus Oleksandr Usyk II still in the negotiating stage, the obvious alternative is for British boxing promoters to take the dog and pony show to the United States, or other European countries who will allow fighters and their corners in to appear on their boxing cards with proof of vaccination. Each country in the world has its rules for exit, entry, and reentry, as well as quarantine, with regulations now tightening as the Omicron Variant has an infection rate five times that of the Delta Variant. The Netherlands has locked down, with European infection rates up 40% from a year ago. France is barring most non-resident Britons from entering the country. Germany has banned audiences at live sporting events. France requires people to work from home three days a week. The United Kingdom and Spain are breaking infection records. The current Omicron trend in Europe means amateur and professional sports are effectively done for 2022. Whether the USA shuts down after the Super Bowl or not is anybody’s guess. The airline industry is cancelling flights to the point of a shutdown.