After months of anticipation, the weights have finally been revealed for the upcoming 5 v 5 event between Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing and Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions.
The long-awaited event will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on June 1, on the same card as the undisputed showdown between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Fans have been waiting to find out which weight divisions will be picked by Warren and Hearn for the event, and it has now been announced in a video published on the Queensberry Promotions YouTube channel.
Frank Warren was first to announce one of the weight classes he has chosen for the card, and it is what is classed as the best division in boxing.
“The weight. Heavyweight division. We’re very strong in the heavyweight division. We have a great roster of heavyweight fighters and it will be one of ours.”
Eddie Hearn then responded as he selected the first weight division that he was allowed to choose.
“I’m going with a slightly smaller weight, I’m going with the featherweight division. We have a number of champions at featherweight and have done historically for the last few years. Like Frank I feel that we’re very strong at 126lbs, and I’m confident that will be one on the scoreboard for Matchroom.”
Warren then chose his second weight class, picking one that has plenty of history in the UK.
“Traditionally the British middleweight division is the division, so it’s going to be the middleweights.”
It was then left to Hearn to pick the final division that the two promoters were able to select.
“Another fantastic division for British boxing, and we’re going to roll the dice with 175lbs, the light-heavyweight division. Hoping for a big domestic match-up.”
The final weight class was then selected by Turki Al-Sheikh, who decided to choose a division that a fight would already take place for.
“For me, number five, of course is the heavyweights. They know I love the heavyweights.”
It means that the event will see two heavyweight fights, along with bouts in the light-heavyweight, middleweight and featherweight divisions.
Al-Sheikh also confirmed that fighters not currently signed to Matchroom and Queensberry are able to be used, as Hearn referenced when revealing a ‘wildcard’ to Boxing Social earlier this week.
The fighters for the divisions will be revealed at a press conference in London in April, with current rumoured fights including Deontay Wilder vs. Zhilei Zhang, and Filip Hrgovic vs. Daniel Dubois.