The intriguing domestic light-heavyweight scrap between Joshua Buatsi and Dan Azeez has been pulled on fight week due to an injury.
It was to be Buatsi’s second fight in a new partnership with Sky Sports and BOXXER, pitted against rising star Azeez. There was talk of the winner being granted a shot at unified champion, Artur Beterbiev.
Unfortunately, the well-matched bout set for London’s O2 Arena has been pulled just days out due to a back injury suffered by Azeez that saw doctors rule him out. The man who’s known for taking on any challenge said he was devastated.
“I’m devastated for this to happen on fight week. It still hasn’t sunk in. I’ve never had to withdraw from a fight in my career before. I want to apologise to all the fans, especially those travelling to the fight.
I am also extremely sorry to my opponent Joshua Buatsi, to my promoter and to everyone involved who has worked so hard on this date. I hope this fight can be rescheduled as soon as possible.”
Promoter Ben Shalom confirmed that the fight would be rescheduled.
“This is a big shock but everyone at BOXXER is working very hard to ensure we provide clarity for all fighters, teams and most importantly the fans as soon as we can.
“I know that Dan would do anything to be in the ring on Saturday night and for this to happen at this stage is devastating. This is a huge fight for British Boxing, but the health and safety of our fighters must come first. My heart goes out to Dan and Joshua, who have both completed tough camps, and to the fans, with more than 10,000 having made arrangements to come on Saturday.
“We will provide an update on the rest of the card and communicate a revised date for Buatsi-Azeez as soon as possible.”
Further details on Saturday’s event, including ticket information, and a revised date for the main event will be communicated shortly by the promotion.
All tickets will automatically remain valid for the rescheduled main event and a full refund will be made available for anyone not able to attend.
As of writing, there has been no official word on the undercard being set to go ahead. Should that be the case, Mikael Lawal and Isaac Chamberlains’ fight for the British Cruiserweight title will headline.