Kingdom Arena
Riyahd, Saudi Arabia
Sat. June 1st
Queensberry and Matchroom promotions on
DAZN
1PM cst
Table of Contents
Queensberry vs Matchroom: 5v5 Background and Concept
After years of never actually speaking to one another, two of the biggest promotional rivals in the UK and the world, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, and Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions, have been made to come together and contribute to some of the best cards of the modern era. This is all thanks to Saudi Arabia’s Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, Turki Alalshikh, his seemingly benevolent machinations, and the money he is backed by. And now that Hearn and Warren have officially met, spoken, and even made a little money together, the time has come to settle the dispute of who has the better stable. They are now friendly with one another, not to be mistaken as being friends. Hearn’s and Warren’s competitive natures implore them both to pick the boxers they truly believe will win on the night. This is great news for fight fans as all five of the match-ups are on paper, intriguing, exciting, and as even as you could ask for. If there was ever a card to gather your friends around to prove to them just how beautiful and unique the sport of boxing can be, this is it.
As is hinted at in the name, five of Matchroom’s best are up against five of Queensberry’s best. While creating the card each promotional company chose 2 weight classes to be represented and Turki Alalshikh chose the 5th. Hearn went with featherweight and light-heavyweight, Warren chose middleweight and heavyweight, and to noone’s surprise Alalshikh chose to add another heavyweight match. It’s not quite as simple as whoever ends up winning the most fights wins the night. It’s actually a point system. The rules are stated as follows:
- Each promotion brings five fighters
- Of the five, four must be currently in their respective stables, but they are each allotted one “wild card” that isn’t currently signed with them
- Each team of five will have a designated team captain
- Winners of each match will be awarded 1 point for a decision, 2 points for a stoppage, and 0 points for a draw
- Team captain’s are awarded double points
- The points will be tallied at the end of the event
To the surprise of many, Eddie Hearn’s wild card pick was another former rival, Deontay Wilder. Wilder not only functions as the wild card, but is also serving as team captain.
Frank Warren did not feel the need to bring in a wild card and chose all five from his current stable and chose Hamzah Sheeraz as the team captain.
Team Matchroom
(C) Deontay Wilder
Filip Hrgovic
Austin Williams
Raymond Ford
Craig Richards
Team Queensberry
Zhilei Zhang
Daniel Dubois
(C)Hamzah Sheeraz
Nick Ball
Willy Hutchinson
When the event was announced, it was initially to be headlined by the long awaited dream fight for undisputed at light-heavyweight, Dmitry Bivol vs Artur Beterbiev. To the entire sport’s collective dismay, Beterbiev suffered a torn meniscus during camp and the fight had to be postponed. Bivol will now defend his WBA and IBO world titles against Malik Zinad in a bout considered separate from the 5 vs 5 event, but still featured on the same PPV. Ostensibly functioning as the headline bout schedule-wise, though the official main event of 5 V 5 is now considered Wilder vs Zhang
(M)-Matchroom (Q)-Queensberry
(M)Deontay “the Bronze Bomber” Wilder (43-3-1, 42KOs) vs (Q)Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang(26-2-1, 21KOs)-Heavyweight Tale of the tape
Wilder
USA
Age: 38
Height: 6’7”
Reach: 83”
Stance: Orthodox
Zhang
China
Age: 41
Height: 6’6”
Reach: 80”
Stance: Southpaw
Both coming back from a loss to the formidable former champion Joseph Parker, this fight is considered by many a “must win” in terms of making their way back to a belt. Leaving out the prospect of future endeavors, at present these are two of the hardest hitting heavyweights in the game. In all likelihood this fight ends with only one of them still on their feet. Wilder’s infamous right hand is already considered amongst the hardest single punches in boxing’s long history. It’s the girl that brought him to the function, and it’s most assuredly going to be the girl he dances with. Zhang’s left hook is the Big Bang. It made it’s own name being an integral part of cracking the uncrackable chin attached to Joe Joyce’s face. There’s much more to both men than their most feared punches. The massive southpaw, Zhang, undoubtedly has a bigger bag of tools and a boxing mind with which he can set traps for his opponent. That said his offense, while well-rounded, remains slow and steady, and his reputation for having poor stamina precedes him. Wilder, will certainly have an advantage in speed, and has his own reputation of remaining dangerous at all times whether it be the first round, or the last. His style is unique to him and unorthodox by all accounts, but every facet of his game is honed specifically for the execution of one single beautiful and destructive function.
(M)Filip “el Animal” Hrgovic (17-0, 14KOs) vs (Q)Daniel “Dynamite” Dubois (22-2, 19KOs)-Heavyweight
Hrgovic
Croatia
Age: 31
Height: 6’6”
Reach: 81.9”
Stance: Orthodox
Dubois
UK
Age: 26
Height: 6’5”
Reach: 78”
Stance: Orthodox
Depending on how the IBF responds to Usyk’s plea to keep their title in his loving home with the rest of the family, the family in this case being every other major belt, Hrgovic and Dubois will likely battle to become the only other world champion at heavyweight. With or without the belt’s involvement they match up pretty well. Dubois has been on a bumpy, but overall positive run since his first defeat at the hands of Joe Joyce. He’s coming off of a career best performance against ‘Big Baby’ Miller, where he showed he does in fact have the drive and grit to win a fight he isn’t dominating. That was following his first title shot against Usyk where he came up short, but had a good showing nonetheless. Hrgovic is coming in on the back of a first round blow out against Mark De Mori, and 12th round TKO versus the undefeated McKean, proving he has power and he carries it late. Hrgovic doesn’t have as much experience in high profile fights as Dubois, but he did best his most well-known foe, Zhilei Zhang, via UD.
Both men have shown they have the power and skill to mix it up with the top of the division. Dubois boasts the more athletic style and physical gifts, where Hrgovic has more solid fundamentals overall, very heavy hands, and the ability to see a game plan through. The Croatian has proven that he does have a noteworthy chin, taking 12 rounds worth of punches from ‘Big Bang Zhang’ is as good a test as any. Dubois cedes that advantage to Hrgovic as he has been dropped a couple times and both of his losses have come by knockout. Dubois has had a less dominant career but has had the opportunity to prove his ability to dig deep and turn a fight around, the question is if push comes to shove, can Hrgovic.
(Q)Hamzah Sheeraz (19-0, 15KOs) vs (M)Austin “Ammo” Williams (16-0, 11KOs)-Middleweight
Sheeraz
UK
Age: 25
Height: 6’4”
Reach: N/A
Stance: Orthodox
Williams
USA
Age: 28
Height: 6’0”
Reach: 78”
Stance: Southpaw
This middleweight bout between unbeaten prospects is sure to be fireworks. At 6’4” Sheeraz is quite tall for the weight class and uses his reach to his advantage. He stays at range and is able to leverage his somewhat lanky frame into generating quite a punch, proven by his 13 fight KO streak. At 6’0” Williams isn’t small for a middleweight, but doesn’t tower over his opponents either. Ammo can be described as explosive, but has learned the virtue of patience in the ring in recent bouts. It’s an interesting clash of styles and both fighters will likely have to show some new wrinkles in order to leave the ring with their 0 intact.
(M)Raymond “Savage” Ford(15-0-1, 8KOs) vs (Q)Nick Ball(19-0-1, 11KOs)-WBA World Featherweight
Ford
USA
Age: 25
Height: 5’7”
Reach: 69”
Stance: Southpaw
Ball
UK
Age: 27
Height: 5’2”
Reach: 65”
Stance: Orthodox
These men are at similar, but not identical points in their respective careers. Both are entering the ring for the first time since their inaugural title fights. Raymond Ford was able to take his WBA belt home after an almost cinematic come from behind TKO of Otobek Kholmatov with only 7 seconds left on the clock. In similar fashion Ball was down on the cards in the first half of his fight with champion Rey Vargas, but clawed his way back to hurt Vargas and drop him twice in the second half. Unfortunately for Ball, the champ had banked enough early rounds to come away with a draw, leaving Ball empty handed. The most glaring difference between them is a 5” height discrepancy in favor of Ford. At 5’2” the title hungry Ball is used to being the smaller fighter, and his style is built around just that. What makes this one interesting is that they have both undoubtedly proven that they have the heart, the determination, and even the skillset, to come from behind and refuse defeat. As much of a clash of styles as this will be, it is the clash of wills that is even more intriguing.
(Q)Willy “the Hutch Train” Hutchinson(17-1, 13KOs) vs (M)Craig“Spider” Richards(18-3-1, 11KOs)-Light Heavyweight
Hutchingson
UK
Age: 25
Height: 6’1”
Reach: N/A
Stance: Orthodox
Richards
UK
Age: 34
Height: 6’1”
Reach: 72.8”
Stance: Orthodox
The first fight of this remarkably well-matched card fits right in with the rest of them. It has great potential to be an all-action banger of a fight. Hutchinson being a proud lifelong Scotsman, and Richards being a Londoner, there is a somewhat built in UK rivalry between the two which will go well with the larger rivalry at play. They are very close in size, and seem to prefer to unleash their offense at the same middle to outside ranges. Their overall styles are not that dissimilar on the surface, but Willy seems to be the more aggressive of the two, which may or may not be a function of the other advantage he holds, being the younger man by 9 years. ‘The Hutch Train’ has been rolling steadily onwards, winning four in a row and all by stoppage since his lone loss to Lennox Clarke on Hutch’s only foray into the super-middleweight division. ‘Spider’ Richards has gone 3-2 in his last five. The two losses were to Dmitry Bivol and Josh Buatsi, neither of which are to be ashamed of. While Richards has been in high profile matches before, even winning a BBBofC title, and has made a habit of proving himself, this will be more of a step-up for Hutchinson in both quality of opponent, and possibly length of the match as Hutchinson has never once been as far as the 8th round. On one hand Richards is hungry to get back to the top and fight for another title one day, Hutchinson is just as eager to show the world what he’s got and prove that he belongs in the upper echelons of the light-heavyweight division. Both men have something to prove, and this is the perfect venue and opponent to prove it.
Dmitry Bivol(22-0, 11KOs) vs Malik“the Trigger” Zinad(22-0, 16KOs)-WBA & IBO World Light Heavyweight
Bivol
Kyrgyzstan
Age: 33
Height: 6’0”
Reach: 72”
Stance: Orthodox
Zinad
Libya
Age: 30
Height: 6’1”
Reach: 74”
Stance: Orthodox
Replacement opponent Malik Zinad has nothing to lose and everything to gain in his bout with p4p talent and one of only two light-heavyweight champions, Dmitry Bivol. While in black and white both fighters boast a 22-0 record, Zinad actually accruing more knockouts, the opposition is about as far from equal as one can get. Officially this bout is separated from the rest of the 5 vs 5 card, which is good because it’s the only one listed that can be called a mismatch. One could even call it a gross mismatch. Realistically there is almost no path to victory for Zinad whatsoever. Bivol is a complete fighter that’s tested his mettle against the very best and won every time. That said, this is boxing, and miracles can and do happen, it’s one of the things about boxing we all love the most. In actuality, Zinad only has to put up a good effort in his almost certain loss and his stock will rise, but it takes more than a good effort to even compete with a fighter of Bivol’s caliber. Barring the biggest upset of our time, the only real question is if Bivol will recognize that the man in front of him poses little to no threat and almost go against his nature and try for a crowd pleasing knockout to add to the highlight reel and cap off what is sure to be an amazing night in Riyadh.
