The BBBofC ordered Lee McGregor vs Kash Farooq 2
British, Commonwealth, European bantamweight champion 'Lightning' Lee McGregor (11-0, 9KOs) will defend his Lonsdale belt for the first time to the same man he won it from almost two years ago, 'Untouchable' Kash Farooq (16-1, 6KOs).
In August, the British Boxing Board of Control decided to put the British bantamweight contest out to purse bids in short terms to be submitted in accordance with the Terms and Conditions to the Board’s Head Office by 12pm on Wednesday, 22nd September 2021, the contest to take place by the end of February 2022.
Today, September 24, an statement was released by the Board to confirm an agreement had been reached between the two parties, with the contest to be promoted by Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing, to take place on a date and at a venue to be advised.
It was over two years ago, back in June 2019 when McGregor and Farooq were looking to get the fight on, and it was not long later, in September, when the clash was confirmed. Lee McGregor was the Commonwealth champ and Kash Farooq was the British beltholder.
On Saturday, November 16, it was McGregor that was crowned the King of Scotland. The two Scotsmen went toe to toe for 12 rounds of solid action, live on iFL TV worldwide.
After an extremely exciting and hard-fought battle, the sold-out crowd at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow were on their feet, with Edinburgh's McGregor (then 8-0, 6 KOs) securing the split decision win to hand Glaswegian Farooq (then 13-1, 6 KOs) the first and only defeat of his career.
After the fight, the new British and Commonwealth bantamweight champion said, “I knew it was a close fight so hats off to Kash Farooq. There was no bad blood in the build up and it was total respect,” leaving the door well and truly open for a rematch down the line.
Both boxers have fought three times since. McGregor, 24, had a routine win during lockdown over Southern Area champ Ryan Walker in August last year; then he blasted Frenchman Karim Guerfi away in under three minutes to rip his European bantamweight title away from him in March 2021; then he defended it five months on with a fourth-round KO over another Frenchman in unbeaten Vincent Legrand, despite going down in a second round scare.
Pakistan-born Farooq, 25, had three 10-round unanimous decision wins, firstly winning the WBA Continental bantamweight belt in November 2020, an entire year after his first fight with McGregor; then added the WBC International Silver strap in April this year; followed by the WBC International bantamweight belt in August.
So it's three KO wins on the spin for McGregor, trained by Shane McGuigan, with one very prestigious title added to the collection, and three successive 10-round UD's for Farooq, trained by former pro Craig Dickson, plus three ranking titles added within the same timeframe.
Both bantamweights fought a week apart in August, so their momentum will be equal to each other going into this return fight.
Catch up with all the news surrounding McGregor and Farooq HERE
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