Corona virus killing sports at the moment

[powerpuncher]

Tons of sports are shutting down because of the virus. Boxing seems to have cut certain cards, but they seem to be going forward with some with the expectation of having empty arenas. I’m wondering if soon enough all boxing will be canceled.

[Master]

Posted about a relatively big fight coming up and having no audience which will strange to see on TV.

Undefeated featherweight Shakur Stevenson will defend the WBO title for the first time when he faces Miguel Marriaga in the main event on Friday's show.

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/cor...180108432.html

[powerpuncher]

Posted about a relatively big fight coming up and having no audience which will strange to see on TV.

Undefeated featherweight Shakur Stevenson will defend the WBO title for the first time when he faces Miguel Marriaga in the main event on Friday's show.

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/cor...180108432.html

It looks like the fight is off now

[Master]

Top Rank calls off two fight cards over lack of coronavirus testing, blames Donald Trump

Top Rank called off two future boxing cards on Thursday night amid the COVID-19 outbreak, and cited a lack of access to tests for the virus, according to ESPN.

Shakur Stevenson, the featherweight titleholder, was going to defend that title against Miguel Marriaga on Saturday at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. Michael Conlan was going to headline Tuesday’s card with his bout against Belmar Preciado.

Both fights were set to be held without fans, a change made in recent days in the wake of the outbreak in the United States.

The decision to call the fights off completely, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said, was done because he said they had no way to accurately test the fighters for the coronavirus.

“We were going to be guided by the recommendation of the athlete commission,” Arum said, via ESPN. “And they consulted their medical people and were advised not to go through with these events because there is no way to adequately test the fighters. It's as simple as that. It's a failure to provide the proper testing for this virus in-country. If we could test the fighters and one or two tested positive then we would eliminate their fights, same with the referee. But without testing we are operating in the dark.”

The fights being canceled marked at least the 15th boxing card that was either postponed or canceled in North America alone this week due to the outbreak, per ESPN. It’s just the latest cancellation in the sports world in general, joining the NBA, college basketball, XFL, MLB, MLS, PGA Tour and others.

Stevenson and Marriaga had promoted the bout just hours before the news broke on Thursday, too.



Arum, while extremely upset for the fighters themselves, explicitly blamed President Donald Trump. Had he and his administration been prepared for the outbreak in the first place, Arum said, these fights would still be taking place.

“The people I am most sorry about are the fighters because they work so hard to get ready. They put in the time and sweat and they come out with nothing,” Arum said, via ESPN. “That's something that we should all blame the President of the United States for and his administration because they didn't prepare us for this pandemic when they had all the advance notice when the first cases started coming out of China.”

New dates for the fight have not yet been set, though Top Rank said it will “work with the commission to reschedule the events as soon as it is safe for all involved.”

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/top...025655455.html

[Master]

Canelo Alvarez vs Billy Joe Saunders could be postponed before even being announced due to coronavirus pandemic

Canelo Alvarez vs Billy Joe Saunders might be postponed before it has even been announced due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Brit’s dream fight against Mexico’s pound-for-pound king is in serious doubt, despite the two camps finally agreeing terms last week.

At the end of a period of protracted negotiations, a deal was done and the promoters were merely ironing out final issues in the contract.

An announcement was expected this week for the bout on May 2 – which is now just seven weeks away.

However, it has today been reported by ESPN Mexico that there is a very serious chance the bout could be pushed back.

No final decision has been made yet, but the longer things continue without an announcement, the more likely a postponement appears.



“We’re taking it one day at a time,” Golden Boy promotions’ Eric Gomez told ESPN.

“We’re talking to the commission in Nevada, we’re talking to the MGM [Arena], state officials.”

In the UK, there have been 596 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with ten deaths announced.

But health officials fear there could actually be up to 10,000 infected people.

In America, latest numbers suggest 1,660 confirmed cases with 41 deaths.

https://talksport.com/sport/boxing/6...irus-pandemic/

[Spicoli]

This is a very weird feeling. Guess we'll see an increase in hypothetical A vs B threads . If there's been one constant to run to it's been sports namely action in the squared circle. It makes complete sense though for the mere mass volume at these events and the uncertainty of exactly what we're dealing with. I feel for the fighters, extended camp members and workers at these locales but guys like Arum need to shut his pie hole. He won't be hurting for money so much as the guys who were looking to pay the some rent competing to win a 6 rounder buried on the undercard. Talk about the ultimate loss of commission on the job.