With boxing in Britain getting back into full swing next month Friday saw the official announcement for the rescheduled fight between Chris Eubank Jr and Liam Williams.
The middleweight bout will go ahead on February 5 at the Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff and will be shown live on Sky Sports. The event had already been moved to January 29 after Williams suffered an injury shelving the original date of December 11. However, boxing in Britain was suspended this month following an announcement by the British Boxing Board of Control at the start of January. The Board had to ensure there was enough medical assistance ringside and there appeared to be little confidence in achieving that because of the spread of the new Covid-19 variant Omicron.
The sport will get back to normal in three weeks and Eubank Jr v Williams is a terrific way to kick things off. Boxxer and Sky Sports also announced on Friday the show’s undercard.
Female boxing superstar Clarissa Shields (11-0, 2 KOs) will be in town to defend her triple middleweight crown against Ema Kozin (21-0-1, 11 KOs). The Russian’s standout win was against Maria Lindberg over two years ago. Lindberg would go on to last three rounds with Savannah Marshall who Shields hopes to face in an undisputed showdown this year.
Former British welterweight champion Chris Jenkins will look to get back to winning ways against Julius Indongo. Jenkins lost his Lonsdale belt to Ekow Essuman last July and faces the 38-year-old Namibian who comfortably beat Ricky Burns five years to unify the 140lb division. Since then, Indongo has had one win in five fights. Losses to Terence Crawford, Regis Prograis, Daniyar Yelussinov and Hassan Mwakinyo were sandwiched with a victory over five-fight novice Carltavius Jones Richardson.
Elsewhere on the bill Samuel Antwi (13-1, 6 KOs) defends his English welterweight title against Conah Walker (10-0-1, 3 KOs) while talented featherweight Rhys Edwards (11-0, 4 KOs) faces 26-fight Russian Ruslan Berchuk (13-13, 4 KOs).
Geordie heavyweight Steve Robinson (4-0, 3 KOs) continues his entertaining education against Shane Gill (0-1-0) and Chris Eubank Jr’s cousin Harlem (12-0, 4 KOs) has landed a slot on the undercard too.
And finally, the February 5 show sees the long-awaited debut of Olympic 2020 quarter-finalist Caroline Dubois. The younger sister to heavyweight contender Daniel faces Lithuania’s Vaida Masiokaite (2-14-4, 1 KO) in her first pro-outing.