Coming Soon to an arena near you
The actions cranks up a few notches across the month of May and into June as the Queensberry Fight Train takes in a further four scheduled stops in tandem with new broadcast partners DAZN.
From Riyadh to Nottingham, Glasgow to Ipswich, the next destination is, indeed, Saudi Arabia on Saturday May 3 at the ANB Arena where the great Saul Alvarez will seek to become undisputed super middleweight world champion for the second time when he takes on the undefeated Berliner William Scull.
Scull, 32 and originally from Cuba, holds the IBF piece of the 168lbs title jigsaw. ‘El Indomable’ was originally mandatory challenger to Canelo, a mission the Mexican did not accept at the time, so Scull successfully fought Vladimir Shishkin for the belt.
So super middleweight supremacy is on the line once more and there is further interest in the division on the card with Jaime Munguia, a fellow Mexican, looking to reverse a shock reverse against the Frenchman Bruno Surace, who knocked him out in December.
At heavyweight, Martin Bakole will trade big bombs with Efe Ajagba, with the US-based Nigerian qualifying for eliminator status towards a future challenge to the champion, Daniel Dubois.
Back in Blighty, the train presses on towards the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham for a super featherweight showdown between Anthony Cacace – the IBO world champion – and former WBA featherweight world champion Leigh Wood, the local boy made good, on Saturday May 10.
The arena will be packed to the rafters for this potentially epic shootout that carries with it huge anticipation from fight fans.
The undercard features another Nottingham favourite in Ezra Taylor, fighting for the WBA Continental Gold light heavyweight title against Birmingham’s undefeated English champion Troy Jones. Taylor is an emerging force in the division and victory will see him propelled towards the British title and beyond.
Former British, European and IBO world super bantamweight champion Liam Davies steps up to featherweight for the first time and he jumps straight into a cracking clash against the undefeated Irish Olympian Kurt Walker while, at welterweight, Worcester’s Owen Cooper will endure a severe test of his credentials against the hugely experienced Chris Kongo.
Queensberry makes a long-awaited return to Glasgow on Saturday May 24 at the OVO Arena for the return to the ring of former undisputed super lightweight world champion Josh Taylor on his opening night at welterweight.
The Tartan Tornado is going up against Ekow ‘The Engine’ Essuman, the former British champion in his first assignment at 147lbs, proving that he is prepared to do it the hard way in his new weight class. Essuman fights do tend to end up being classic encounters.
Glasgow will also welcome Heavyweight Prince Moses Itauma on the night when he will go up against the American Mike Balogun in his 12th fight as a professional.
There is an all-Scottish shootout at featherweight for the coveted WBC Silver title between former British champion Nathaniel Collins and former European bantamweight champion Lee McGregor. This one could well steal the show.
From Glasgow we then head downwards and then left a bit to East Anglia and the beautiful county of Suffolk on Saturday June 9. In possibly one of the the biggest sporting occasions to have taken place in the region, Portman Road, home of Ipswich Town FC, will play host to the WBA Interim world heavyweight title collision between Ipswich citizen Fabio Wardley and the voluble Bronx boy Jarrell Miller.
For Wardley, this will be the fulfilment of a dream to be performing at the home of his footballing favourites but, at a business level, victory is imperative if he wants to enter the elite of the heavyweight division and feature in the biggest, most lucrative, fights moving forward.
These four bumper shows are just the beginning because 2025 is set to deliver in a very big way as the Queensberry Train powers towards its next destinations.