Opening Night Looms for Queensberry & DAZN

Another thrilling new era is now firmly on the horizon for next week - on Saturday April 5 - at the new and futuristic Co-op Live Arena, situated right in the heart of Manchester City country, Frank Warren and Queensberry will officially cut the ribbon heralding a broadcast partnership with streaming giant DAZN.

It is a fistic union that will further change the face of British boxing and beyond. With one single subscription, boxing fans, wherever they come from, can tune in on a multitude of devices to watch the output of promotional giants Queensberry, Matchroom and Golden Boy. There are many other boxing offerings on the DAZN menu, with the broadcaster promising to deliver some 185 shows each year.

As Frank Warren pointed out, the burgeoning heavyweight stable of Queensberry is now available to view wherever you happen to be across the globe, which represents an incredible and unrivalled reach for the likes of Daniel Dubois, Joseph Parker, Joe Joyce, Fabio Wardley, Lawrence Okolie, Agit Kabayel, Derek Chisora, Dillian Whyte and Moses Itauma, to name just a fistful.

The Home of the Heavyweights now has an open door to the world.

The Hall of Fame promoter added that, even though Oleksandr Usyk is not signed up to Queensberry, his mandatory defences will come from Queensberry fighters, with Parker holding the WBO Interim title, Kabayel the WBC Interim, while Okolie is the No.1 ranked contender with the WBC, Wardley No.1 with the WBA and Itauma No.2 with the WBO. And, of course, Dubois is IBF world champion, with his top-ranked contender being Chisora.

The big opener in Manchester typically carries a heavyweight theme and it is Juggernaut Joyce leading the way with a major crossroads confrontation with former IBF No.1 contender and Croatian Olympian Filip Hrgovic, who is also now aligned with Team Queensberry.

It promises to be a hellacious battle between two giant fighting men, with both seeking to propel themselves back into major title contention.

The British heavyweight title is also being showcased, with English champion David Adeleye taking on London rival Jeamie TKV Tshikeva, plus we have the professional debut of British Olympian Delicious Orie to look forward to. 

The show also features the Commonwealth super lightweight title being defended by Jack Rafferty against the unbeaten Leeds man Cory O’Regan and a potentially cracking 10-rounder between North West rivals Khaleel Majid and Alex Murphy, from Bolton and Salford respectively.

Add in the return of former WBC Silver lightweight champion Mark Chamberlain stepping up to super lightweight and the Blue Chip talents of Royston Barney-Smith and Nelson Birchall on parade, making Manchester the real place to be on April 5, either in person or on DAZN.

The Queensberry-DAZN Train will next rock up in Nottingham on Saturday May 10 at the Motorpoint Arena, where local hero and former world featherweight champion Leigh Wood makes his return to the ring against the former IBF and current IBO super featherweight world champion Anthony Cacace.

It is a collision that has caught the imagination and the arena will be packed to the rafters, with only a few tickets currently remaining.

A shootout is predicted and both Cacace and Wood rarely fail to deliver.

The undercard includes three absolute barnstomers, with another Nottingham local in light heavyweight Ezra Taylor fighting for the WBC Continental Gold title against Birmingham’s unbeaten Troy Jones, the English champion.

Then at featherweight, former British and European super bantamweight champion Liam Davies begins life at a new poundage by going up against the undefeated Irish Olympian Kurt Walker and, at welterweight, Worcester’s Owen Cooper takes on another tough challenge against Chris Kongo.

British and European lightweight champion Sam Noakes takes his place on the card, which will also see the professional debuts of Coventry welterweight Huey Malone, Australian Olympian Charlie Senior and Team GB stars Joe Tyers and Harris Akbar.

On Saturday May 24 it is Destination Glasgow for the highly-anticipated clash between former undisputed super lightweight world champion Josh Taylor and former British welterweight champion Ekow Essuman.

The Tartan Tornado is set to reinvent himself at 147lbs and he has got a tough job on his hands for starters against his only once-defeated former GB teammate from Nottingham.

The heavyweight sensation Moses Itauma will introduce himself to the Scottish public in his 12th fight as a professional, but two smaller men will be looking to grab the headlines on the night.

Former British featherweight champion Nathaniel Collins takes on former European bantamweight champion Lee McGregor for the vacant WBC Silver title in a fight that should captivate from start to finish. Up at cruiserweight, it will be England vs Scotland when force of nature Aloys Jr is matched with David Jamieson for the WBA Continental belt.

Queensberry’s young Scottish starlets, Drew Limond, Alex Arthur Jr and Reece Lynch have the chance to shine, with Arthur and Lynch making their professional debuts.

So this is Queensberry’s opening treble gambit on DAZN to mark the start of a relationship that will bring more shows and promoters being kept on their toes.

“We will be kept on our toes at all times,” explained Frank Warren. “With multiple promoters on the platform, we all want to be the best and put together the strongest shows that attract the biggest audiences. We intend to be No.1.”