Matchroom Boxing pomoter Eddie Hearn has been heavily involved with staging some of the biggest fights in boxing during 2024 with the help of Turki Al-Alshikh but returned to the United Kingdom for the huge Josh Taylor vs. Jack Catterall II card last month.
Now, Hearn is attempting to bring yet another monumental clash to British shores, seeking to become the first boxing promoter to stage a fight night at the newly built Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester.
Jack Catterall avenged his controversial defeat to Josh Taylor with a unanimous-decision victory over ‘The Tartan Tornado’ last month, in front of a booming atmosphere in Leeds that reminded boxing fans why it remains crucial that strong cards continue to take place on British shores.
That win for the Chorley-born super-lightweight appeared to set him up for a shot at world honours, although he has instead been made to wait.
Rather than sit on the sidelines and wait his turn, Catterall is now targeting undefeated WBO mandatory challenger Arnold Barboza Jr., who defeated Belfast’s Sean McComb in April in a bout that was labelled as ‘corrupt’ by Teddy Atlas.
Catterall and Barboza Jr. have been exchanging heated words on social media, but it seems as though a deal is close to an agreement and speaking to iFL TV, Eddie Hearn revealed plans to stage the contest at the 23,500-seater arena this summer.
“We are speaking to Golden Boy [Promotions], Frank Smith and Eric Gomez are sort of talking it through with DAZN – August 24th is a potential date for that fight. We have got the new Co-Op Arena in Manchester, which would be amazing to go there and try that one out.
“It’s a good fight, Barboza is a good fighter with plenty to say for himself and Jack wants to keep busy. He wants to fight for a world title, obviously that is not possible right now, so we wanted to put him into a really good fight. It’s a good fight for the U.S. subscribers, a good fight for the U.K. and we will see if we can get it over the line.”
The venue is now officially Europe’s largest indoor arena but although Matchroom appear set to stage the first boxing event at the Co-Op Live, they will not be the firsts to host a fight night, as UFC 304 goes ahead on July 27th headlined by Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad.
A win for Catterall would position him for a title bid against WBO champion Teofimo Lopez, the only other man to defeat Josh Taylor, although the Englishman is ranked in the top six with each of the sanctioning bodies and with Hearn promoting Subriel Matias as well as Lopez – we could see Catterall choose to opt for the IBF route and take on the Puerto Rican power-puncher.
Both Lopez and Matias defend their world titles this month, against Steve Claggett and Liam Paro respectively.
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