A hand injury has forced WBO World Middleweight Champion Billy Joe Saunders to withdraw from his maiden title defence against Max Bursak at the Copper Box Arena on Saturday 30 April.
However, undefeated heavyweight sensation Hughie Fury will now joint headline an action-packed card alongside red-hot talent Liam Walsh on a huge night of boxing featuring the best of British of talent, exclusively live on BoxNation.
It’s been 18 years since London-born Lennox Lewis tore the lineal title, in March 1998, from Shannon “The Cannon” Briggs, to add to the WBC belt he already owned. Back then, former world title holder Frank Bruno had not fought for two years, but Norfolk’s Herbie Hide still held the WBO strap, he’d won from Tony Tucker the previous year. The mid-late 90s is possibly the most successful spell in British heavyweight history, but now, in 2016, the United Kingdom’s current crop of heavyweights are looking to change that.
Last night at Wembley, in a fight the followed – after a considerable delay – the Chris Eubank Junior-Nick Blackwell battle that sadly saw Blackwell taken to hospital where he remains under observation with a brain bleed – unbeaten heavyweight Hughie Fury won a dull but wide ten-round UD over a faded Dominick Guinn.
Hughie Fury, cousin of heavyweight ruler Tyson Fury, has a busy schedule planned; with two fights set for the next month. The unbeaten 22-year-old who is currently 18-0(10) will face a TBA on April 30th but this Saturday, durable, never stopped Dominick Guinn will face the contender on very short notice.
Nagy Aguilera was to have fought Fury – who has just signed a deal with promoter Frank Warren but will still work with Mick Hennessey also – but he pulled out injured, leaving the respective promoters of Fury to find a late replacement foe.
Unbeaten heavyweight contender Hughie Fury, cousin of course of reigning heavyweight champ Tyson Fury, will face a tested and experienced fighter in Nagy Aguilera in his next bout. Set to face the 20-9 operator from The Dominican Republic on the March 26th card at Wembley that will be headlined by middleweights Nick Blackwell and Chris Eubank Junior who will meet in something of a grudge-match, 21-year-old Fury could have a good fight on his hands.
Aguilera, aged 29 and long time based in New York, has been in with a number of notable names, including: Oleg Maskaev, Sam Peter, Antonio Tarver, Chris Arreola, Tomasz Adamek and, more recently, unbeaten U.S heavyweight hopes Dominic Breazeale and Gerald Washington. Okay, most of these fighters have beaten Aguilera but, with the exception of Peter and Arreola, they have not stopped him. And Aguilera is coming off a win – he travelled to Poland last September, where he stopped a 16-1 Marcin Rekowski.
Hughie Fury, the unbeaten and talented cousin of reigning heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, is in search of meaningful fights against established contenders as he chases his own dream of reaching the very top. Peter Fury, his trainer, has Tweeted how Andrey Fedosov “declined” a fight with the 21-year-old with the 18-0(10) pro record, but that contracts have now gone out for a Hughie Fury-Alexander Ustinov fight.
“We now offered Ustinov ranked no5 WBA WBO. & contracts gone out. Frank Warren trying to make this happen awaiting news from Frank,” Peter Tweeted today.
When Tyson Fury challenges dominant lineal heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko on October 24th in Germany, his 20 year old cousin Hughie (16-0, 8ko) will be on the undercard, boxing a former opponent of Tyson’s – American, Nicolai Firtha (21-11-1, 8ko).
Tyson boxed Firtha back in 2011, when he too was a heavyweight prospect (15-0), knocking the American out in 5 rounds, and there will be inevitable comparison’s when Hughie fights the Ohio native – albeit on a far bigger and grander stage than King’s Hall in Belfast, where Firtha’s first fight with a Fury took place.
WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder is taking an absolute shellacking from all sides with the rumours over his potential September opponent, with the surprise announcement that 20 year old Hughie Fury (cousin of Tyson) had potentially been selected for his in ring return, that is mooted to be on September 26th – around 6 1/2 weeks away.
Hughie’s father and trainer Peter, announced that contact between camps had been made, with Wilder’s representatives approaching them for a fight in “4 weeks time”, later confirming that given a full 8 week camp they would then take the opportunity.
An interesting tweet from British trainer Peter Fury dropped last night regarding his unbeaten son Hughie – cousin of Tyson – potentially fighting WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder in America.
September 26th is the penciled in date for the Alabama man’s return, with Fury tweeting;
“Call just came in from USA asking @hughiefury to fight Wilder in 4 weeks. Getting noticed @Tyson_Fury.”
British middleweight champion Nick Blackwell (18-3-1, 8ko) produced the goods in Derby last night to retain his title with an emphatic stoppage victory over the previously undefeated Damon Jones (now 13-1, 3ko), live on Channel 5.
The ever improving Blackwell is still only 24 years of age and his 3 defeats have all come at the hands of solid European and world level fighters in Martin Murray (2011), Billy Joe Saunders (2012) and former EBU champion Max Bursak (2013) in fights he arguably took too soon.