Matchroom Vs Queensbury: Would This Be The Perfect Five Vs Five Line-up?
During the recent visit to Saudi Arabia for ‘Knockout Chaos’ – headlined by Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight bout with Francis Ngannou – both Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren revealed a few more details about the Matchroom vs Queensbury event set to take place in Riyadh on June 1.
While neither the Matchroom nor Queensbury boss could give away too many details, there are a few things that were shared. Firstly, both Hearn and Warren will choose two weight classes each, with the fifth decided by Turki Alalshikh – Saudi Arabia’s Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority and the man behind all the major boxing bouts going to Saudi.
Secondly, neither side will know which fighters the other has picked for each bout until a press conference to announce the line-up, giving it a boxing-style draft.
Beyond that, the specific details about who is fighting have been kept largely secret while many of the fights have yet to have even been made. Everything will be revealed in good time, but until then, Boxing News looked through the respective stables and came up with a line-up that would be quite close to perfect for the event.
To confirm, this is all speculative at this stage and purely for entertainment purposes – although it will be interesting to see how close it is to the final line-up!
Dimitry Bivol Vs Artur Beterbiev (Light-Heavyweight)
The one fight everyone is quite confident will headline the show, and if it doesn’t, it will feel like a massive disappointment. There have been calls for years for WBA light-heavyweight champion Bivol to face WBC, WBO, and IBF holder Beterbiev, but the fight has never got over the line.
That should be about to change as Bivol (22-0-0 11 KO) puts his slick skills to the test against knockout machine Beterbiev (20-0-0 20 KO) in an undisputed title bout.
Raymond Ford Vs Nick Ball (Featherweight)
Hearn had proposed this fight after Ford (15-0-1 8 KO) dramatically won the WBA featherweight world title earlier this month with a 12th-round stoppage of Otabek Kholmatov while trailing on two of the three scorecards.
The Matchroom boss said Ford vs Ball would likely depend on Ball (19-0-1 11 KO) defeating WBC champion Rey Vargas, and while the Englishman came up just short of claiming the title after last Friday’s fight was scored a controversial draw, he showed more than enough to deserve another shot at a title.
Ball’s promoter Warren said he is aiming to get his fighter back in the ring in June so the timing suits.
Austin Williams Vs Hamzah Sheeraz (Middleweight)
Two unbeaten, highly-ranked, and highly-regarded middleweight contenders making plenty of noise on opposite sides of the pond – the parallels between Williams and Sheeraz are obvious, and this would be a brilliant fight to make.
Williams (16-0-0 11 KO) is ranked in the top five by the IBF, WBC, and WBA, while Sheeraz (19-0-0 15 KO) is similarly ranked by the WBO and the WBC. Both fighters are coming off stoppage wins in February so would have similar time to recover and prepare.
Should this fight happen, it could even act as a title eliminator for the WBC, which would add further incentive to getting it signed and sealed.
Dillian Whyte Vs Daniel Dubois (Heavyweight)
Looking at the respective heavyweight rosters at Matchroom and Queensbury, there are many fights in the division that could be made in theory – chief among them, Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury. But in reality, many of the boxers are already tied up with other commitments and won’t be available for June 1, which brings us to Whyte vs Dubois.
First of all, it’s unclear whether Whyte is still promoted by Matchroom, but he is still listed on the company’s website so for these purposes, he is eligible. The ‘Body Snatcher’ (29-3-0 19 KO) is just returning from a provisional suspension after being cleared of doping and will make his comeback on March 17 against Christian Hammer.
Meanwhile, Dubois (20-2-0 19 KO) last fought in December – a last-round stoppage of Jarrell Miller – and will be looking for his next opponent. An all-British heavyweight clash would carry plenty of interest with fight fans, and for the winner, the chance to get back in the title conversation.
Andy Cruz Vs Mark Chamberlain (Lightweight)
Of all the fights listed here, this would appear to be the biggest longshot, but one that would certainly set the pulses racing. Following a stellar amateur career, Cruz (3-0-0 1 KO) is regarded as one of the finest talents not only in the lightweight division but in all of boxing. Chamberlain, on the other hand, is one of Alalshikh’s favorite boxers and won in style on the Joshua vs Ngannou undercard.
Cruz’s promoter Hearn said he was aiming to put the Cuban in with a top-10 ranked opponent next after outclassing his last opponent Brayan Zamarripa Rodriguez. Chamberlain (15-0-0 11 KO) might not quite fit the bill, but he is ranked one place above Cruz by the IBF.
Chamberlain would likely have little interest in fighting Cruz if he knew beforehand, but the beauty of this format means that if the fight is made, then he would have already committed to it.
