One of the most highly expected heavyweight bouts of the year between Dillian Whyte and Alexander Povetkin could end up taking place behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Matchroom Boxing’s main man Eddie Hearn broke the news, saying that there is still no certainty on when and where the bout can take place.
Initially, the pair were scheduled to meet on May 2 in London, but the ongoing coronavirus outbreak locked down many countries and mass gatherings with pro sports were postponed.
BBBoC is now working on a plan which may see boxing return in July, in a setting that is behind closed doors.
Hearn, and the main event fighters, are very willing to do their event behind closed doors.
“When Whyte knocks out Povetkin, stands on the turnbuckle and there are six people watching, it will be weird,” Hearn told BBC Sport. “But I want people to tune in and say ‘wow’.
“When Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline is playing and you open the curtain and see 20,000 people screaming, it’s quite easy to peak if you’re a good fighter. But doing that behind closed doors is going to be a different kind of challenge. I don’t see how boxing in a studio does anything for the sport. It’s four walls in a dark environment with no character or personality.
“I want to build a fight camp, a different kind of environment, more dramatic. It will look spectacular on TV. We need to dramatize it. It’s about taking over a hotel, testing all the teams, creating a sterile fight camp where no-one goes in until we know they’ve had a negative test. It’s about creating changing room areas, ring walks. It will add to the story.”
Source: www.boxingscene.com
