Chris Kongo vs Michael McKinson joins Povetkin-Whyte 2 on March 6th
Both men are coming off of solid victories last year
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Another solid domestic UK clash will join a card chock-full of them. Matchroom announced today that unbeaten welterweights Chris Kongo and Michael McKinson will meet on the March 6th Alexander Povetkin-Dillian Whyte 2 DAZN card. !
Kongo (12-0, 7 KO) earned the biggest win of his career last August by knocking out Luther Clay before Povetkin’s and Whyte’s first meeting. He later made clear his desire to challenge Conor Benn for the British title, but “The Destroyer” went on to beat Sebastian Formella instead and is gearing up to face Samuel Vargas in April.
Felix Cash also takes to the ring, as do
Kash Farooq and
Mark Robinson/Matchroom
All of the bills will be shown on Sky Sports in the UK, aside from the Povetkin-Whyte II card, which is set to be televised on Sky Sports Box Office. US broadcast duties are handled by DAZN.
Each of the UK shows are expected to take place at the same venue. The exact setting is yet to be finalised, though it is probable that an arena in London will be selected.
“Previously we’ve been to Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Wembley – we could go anywhere really,” explained Matchroom chief Eddie Hearn. “I think the general feeling from the Board is that the medical support in London is best for the fighters in terms of the specific units, so the Board would be happy at the moment for us to stay in London.”
WHO would have thought way back in February when Tyson Fury pulled off one of the most spectacular heavyweight title rematch performances in boxing history to break not only Deontay Wilder’s undefeated record but also his heart to snatch the WBC crown from his grasp that only a month later Covid-19 would turn life as we know it upside down?
All of sudden our public discourse and daily vocabulary became peppered with new words and terms “self-isolation,” “protective bubbles,” “quarantine,” “track and trace,” “social distancing,” and all the rest. Worst of all was the death toll from this ghastly virus, revealed on a daily basis as if tallying up the war dead.
The fight for boxing continues
BACK in March, as the mysterious Coronavirus sank its teeth into the world, we at Boxing News were ordered from our desks and out of our old London office. None of us have been back since.
The following week we put an issue to press from our respective homes. The coverline – SHUT DOWN – was stark. Days before, the Olympic qualifiers in London were pulled midway through. Huge events in the professional code were indefinitely postponed. Plans to stage fights behind closed doors were cancelled. Gyms were forced to close. The sport dropped to its knees, the darkness took hold and the count slowly tolled over us.
Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury fights in Mike Costello s boxing review of 2020
By Mike CostelloBBC boxing correspondent
Last updated on
Tyson Fury took the WBC title from Deontay Wilder a month before lockdown began
The text message came just after 4pm on Monday, 16 March. They re scrapping qualifier after tonight. Teams just been told
I was eating at the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, east London, in between sessions of the Olympic boxing qualifying tournament for the European region being held at the Copper Box Arena nearby.
The atmosphere around an event drenched in confusion was eerily prescient.
The competition got under way two days earlier and spectators were allowed in on the Saturday and the Sunday, before an announcement was made about taking the event behind closed doors from Monday onwards. And then came the decision to call it off.