Discussions between the Government and sporting organizations on Friday morning are likely to decide whether the historic all-female card at London’s O2 Arena will go ahead after Queen Elizabeth II’s death.
Several sporting matches on Friday were canceled after his death at the age of 96 on Thursday, including football matches, the England-South Africa cricket test match and all horse racing matches.
But it is not at all clear if the sport will resume at the weekend. After the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, the sport largely came to a halt, although her death at the age of 36 was a major shock.
In fact, when King George VI, the queen’s father, died in 1952, sporting events continued with minutes of silence.
The Government is due to have talks with the Premier League on Friday morning, as well as the Cricket Board for England and Wales. It seems likely that boxing will follow those sports’ decision in deciding whether to go ahead.
Saturday’s show is headlined by the undisputed middleweight world title fight between Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall, with the unified super featherweight title fight between Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner also on the same card.
Friday’s weigh-in is yet to take place, albeit behind closed doors.
It seems likely that any sport will be postponed on the day of the funeral, although it is unlikely to take place for more than a week, with a funeral likely to take place next week.
West End theaters have announced that they will continue performances during any official period of mourning, although they are likely to close on the day of the funeral.
BOXXER, which is the main promoter of the event, issued a statement on Thursday.
“The news of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was received with great sadness today by the athletes and staff of BOXXER. With the deepest respect, the official weigh-ins scheduled for Friday for BOXXER – LEGACY: Shields vs Marshall, now will be held behind closed doors and will not be open to the media or the public.
“An announcement on the status of the event will be made on Saturday, at London’s O2, after consultation with relevant government and sports industry bodies and will be made as soon as possible. This announcement will be made via Boxxer.com and the Official BOXXER Social Media Channels The deepest condolences from every BOXXER athlete and staff member go out to the Royal Family and all those affected by the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.”
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was a boxing correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001 to 2019, covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights around the world. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications around the world since the 1980s.
