EDDIE Hearn has confirmed that he wants Jason Quigley to feature as part of an ambitious series of boxing shows from the garden of Matchroom Boxing’s headquarters.
With shows in conventional venues not possible due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Hearn is keen to roll out a unique series from the the Brentwood mansion he grew up in.
Plans are firmly underway with Hearn unveiling plans for four weeks of action from a proposed first date of July 18.
Each week, five fights would be on a card, with the last of the series seeing the clash of Dillian Whyte and Alexander Povetkin for the WBC interim heavyweight belt. Whyte-Povetkin was due to headline a May 2 card in Manchester that was to include Quigley and fellow Irish star Katie Taylor.
“I want to put a world title fight on here,” Hearn said.
“I want to create history. I want to make memories.
“You had 15,000 people due to attend the Manchester Arena, so the numbers will be good. We would have a four-fight undercard. We plan to have Katie Taylor and hopefully we’ll still get the (Amanda) Serrano fight away.
“We’ve got Callum Johnson for a European title and we got Quigley against Cullen. The card will be pretty much the same as it was in Manchester. The difference you’ll see if that that we won’t have anything before the live broadcast. We will have five fights and we want to make as much of those Championship fights.
Quigley (18-1, 14KOs) is set to meet JackCullen (18-2, 9KOs) on the card while Hearn hopes that Taylor could defend her WBA, IBF, WBO, WBC and Ring Magazine world lightweight titles against seven-time world champ Serrano.
Quigley is keen to make it happen.
“Why not get Jack Cullen in Eddie Hearn’s garden?” Quigley said.
“It has been talked about and it is possible. It’s a big possibility, I think. This has got people chatting a lot. It would be something historic and it would be massive to be involved in it.”
Hearn has said that his Matchroom staff will be reaching out to fighters in the next week. Adequate testing facilities will be put in place for fighters while a separate hotel will be used and attendances will be kept to a minimum.
The project will involved investment of over ÂŁ1 million from Matchroom.
Hearn said: “It is a massive project, but I’m excited. The response has given me a shot in the arm to keep going.
“The Board are behind it as long as we follow the regulations. We are committed to doing this and to bringing boxing back in July.
“We have built the business to a position where we can withstand this swing. We have had a great run, but now we want to reinvest in the boxing and make sure we keep thriving and keep the momentum going.
“I don’t want to do it in a studio, or an enclosed environment. That doesn’t capture the intensity, the moment, the energy. Here, it will look very different. It’s a huge amount of work and we still have a lot of obstacles, but we’re in a good place.”
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