Hearn’s Matchroom stable has alternatives whilst Warren lacks options
One of the most highly anticipated cards of 2024, again comes from the mind of the now revered Turki Alalshikh.
Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn and Queensberry’s Frank Warren are set to put their differences aside as they battle on the biggest stage to find out who truly runs the best boxing promotion.
The Queensberry vs Matchroom 5v5 will take place on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol’s undisputed light heavyweight contest. The event will see each promotor pit five of their fighter against each other, in what will surely be a tantalizing event in Saudi. The event is currently scheduled for June 1.
With five separate bouts, each man will have to carefully select their top fighters in each of the chosen weight classes. It was recently decided that there will be two heavyweight bouts, a light heavyweight contest, a middleweight clash, and finally a featherweight showdown.
The lightest contest, at 126 lbs proves to be one of the most interesting. Hearn has seemingly endless options of top-calibre fighters in the division, whilst Warren is lacking depth at the weight class.
Arguably Hearn’s best featherweight on Hearn’s roster, Ray Ford, looked likely to step into the ring, against his Queensberry foe, however, Hearn recently revealed that it would be unlikely Ford will be ready in time to take part in the event.
Ford is coming off the back of a twelfth-round TKO victory over Uzbekistan fighter, Otabek Kholmatov. The fight took place on March 2 in the US. Due to the short turnaround to be ready for the upcoming event, Hearn will likely be looking elsewhere for his featherweight contender.
Luckily for the Matchroom promoter, he is hardly short of options at 126 lbs. He stated that Leigh Wood and Josh Warrington are alternative possibilities ahead of the showdown.
Warren on the other hand has a trickier predicament at featherweight. The only truly elite featherweight on his roster appears to be Nick Ball. Ball also fought at the beginning of March, achieving a split decision Draw in a WBC title challenge against Ray Vargas.
It would seem a short turnaround for Ball to be ready in time for the contest, hampered further by rumours surrounding a rematch with the current WBC champion.