Matchroom Fight Camp, which became a fun series of shows promoted at Matchroom headquarters last summer, will return with dates on July 31, August 7, and August 14, still at the same venue but this time with fans in attendance, which should make it even more fun.
Some of these fights were leaked already, but are now fully official, and here’s a rundown of what we’ll have on the shows:
- Conor Benn (18-0, 12 KO) faces Adrian Granados (21-8-3, 15 KO) in the welterweight main event. Might seem a sideways step for Benn, and for “level” I suppose it is, but Granados can still be a pain. He’s probably past the best of his “better than his record” days, in all honesty, but I think it’s a useful style test.
- Shannon Courtenay (7-1, 3 KO) will defend her WBA bantamweight title. This may be a rematch with Rachel Ball, who beat Courtenay last year at Fight Camp, but the opponent is not official yet.
- Tommy McCarthy (18-2, 9 KO) and Chris Billam-Smith (12-1, 10 KO) will meet for McCarthy’s European cruiserweight title, plus Billam-Smith’s Commonwealth title and the vacant British title, too. Good fight.
- Eduardo Grande will be giving Avni Yildirim (21-3, 12 KO) something of a chance at Matchroom redemption against Jack Cullen (19-2-1, 9 KO) after kinda ripping Yildirim for taking the money and shrugging against Canelo in February.
- Anthony Fowler (14-1, 11 KO) takes on Roberto Garcia (44-5, 27 KO), a veteran who is sort of the opposite of Adrian Granados, never been near as good as his padded record.
- Campbell Hatton (2-0, 0 KO) will be in action, as will amateur standout Sandy Ryan, who makes her pro debut at 140.
- Kid Galahad (27-1, 16 KO) and Jazza Dickens (30-3, 11 KO) will finally meet for the vacant IBF featherweight title in the main event. Solid fight, Galahad is a tricky top featherweight and Dickens fought his way here by winning MTK’s featherweight tournament.
- Heavyweight Fabio Wardley (11-0, 10 KO) in action.
- The GOAT, the Albanian King himself, Florian Marku (8-0-1, 6 KO) will take on Maxim Prodan (19-0-1, 15 KO) at welterweight, which all Fun Stuff aside is a nice matchup.
- Alen Babic (7-0, 7 KO), who just blasted through another win on Saturday, faces Mark Bennett (7-1, 1 KO), who would seem by record to have no hope.
- Ebanie Bridges (5-1, 2 KO) gets another shot on a Matchroom card after impressing in defeat against Shannon Courtenay. She’ll face veteran Bec Connolly (3-9, 0 KO).
- Another heavyweight prospect, Johnny Fisher (2-0, 2 KO), faces Josh Sandland (5-3-1, 0 KO).
- Ellie Scotney (2-0, 0 KO) is in action, as is Aqib Fiaz (6-0, 0 KO).
- Joshua Buatsi (14-0, 12 KO) will face Ricards Bolotniks (18-5-1, 8 KO) in what is, on paper, my favorite of the three main events. Buatsi is a good talent, good prospect ready to break through if he can, and Bolotniks was just outstanding fun pulling an upset and winning MTK’s 175 lb tournament. He’s terrific entertainment and a tough fighter, could be a good fight.
- Savannah Marshall (10-0, 8 KO) will defend her WBO middleweight title. Wouldn’t expect much for an opponent here, as unless she’s unifying (she isn’t) there isn’t much for opponents at 160.
- Raymond Ford (8-0-1, 4 KO) will try to bounce back from a draw result in March by taking on Reece Bellotti (14-4, 12 KO), which I actually think is fairly “sink-or-swim” for Ford. Bellotti’s far from a world beater, but always scrappy as hell.
- Michael McKinson (20-0, 2 KO) takes on Prezemyslaw Runowski (19-1, 5 KO), a Polish fighter who is unbeaten except for the time he was badly routed by Josh Kelly.
- Felix Cash (14-0, 10 KO) will defend his Commonwealth middleweight title. From BT Sport main event to fifth down the card in Eddie’s garden, though that may be about equal.
- Kash Farooq (15-1, 6 KO), Tasha Jonas (9-2-1, 7 KO), and Hopey Price (4-0, 1 KO) are all in action. By the way, that’s the OFFICIAL note that OFFICIALLY we are to call her “Tasha” and not “Natasha” now, I think. Press release said it, so it’s fact.
This article was originally published by Badlefthook.com. Read the original article here.