That eagerly-awaited Eddie Hearn vs Frank Warren 5 on 5 blockbuster card WILL go ahead despite the postponement of that massive Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol superfight – and it now has a new main event.
The Beterbiev vs Bivol light-heavyweight unification fight had been set to top the June 1 show in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – despite the fact it is not part of the Hearn/Warren beef.
Last week though we got the devastating news that Beterbiev will be out until at least September after rupturing a meniscus in his knee. That means the showdown vs Bivol will have to wait.
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Bivol will still fight on the June 1 show, defending his WBA light-heavyweight strap against unheralded Libyan Malik Zinad (22-0 with 16 wins inside distance). But it will not be the main event.
Instead the show will now be topped by that heavyweight blockbuster which pits Deontay Wilder vs Zhilei Zhang – a crossroads fight between two enormous big men coming off damaging losses.
Last December Wilder (43-3-1) dropped a unanimous points decision to Joseph Parker on that ‘Day of Reckoning’ bill in Saudi Arabia, leaving plans for a March superfight vs Anthony Joshua in tatters. Then Parker burst the Zhang (26-2-1) bubble too in March, outpointing the Chinese giant despite suffering two knockdowns.
Updated card, all the fights
So the updated details for the show on June 1 are as follows:
Heavyweight: Deontay Wilder (Hearn) vs Zhilei Zhang (Warren)
Heavyweight: Filip Hrgovic (Hearn) vs Daniel Dubois (Warren)
Featherweight: Raymond Ford (Hearn) vs Nick Ball (Warren)
Middleweight: Ammo Williams (Hearn) vs Hamzah Sheeraz (Warren)
Light-Heavyweight: Craig Richards (Hearn) vs Willy Hutchinson (Warren)
Light-Heavyweight: Dmitry Bivol vs Malik Zinad
