The scheduled for Saturday, October 21 bout between Joshua Buatsi and Dan Azeez is no longer happening at The O2 in London, England. The all-British clash has been postponed due to back injury suffered by the latter in his final training session. He was deemed unable to compete by doctors.
“I’m devastated for this to happen on fight week,” Dan Azeez said. “It still hasn’t sunk in. I’ve never had to withdraw from a fight in my career before.”
“I want to apologise to all the fans, especially those travelling to the fight. I am also extremely sorry to my opponent Joshua Buatsi, to my promoter and to everyone involved who has worked so hard on this date. I hope this fight can be rescheduled as soon as possible.”
The bout, pitting friends turned rivals, is expected to be rescheduled to a new date.
“This is a big shock but everyone at BOXXER is working very hard to ensure we provide clarity for all fighters, teams and most importantly the fans as soon as we can,” said BOXXER founder and CEO Ben Shalom. “I know that Dan would do anything to be in the ring on Saturday night and for this to happen at this stage is devastating. This is a huge fight for British Boxing, but the health and safety of our fighters must come first. My heart goes out to Dan and Joshua, who have both completed tough camps, and to the fans, with more than 10,000 having made arrangements to come on Saturday.”
“We will provide an update on the rest of the card and communicate a revised date for Buatsi vs Azeez as soon as possible.”
Undefeated London-based Joshua Buatsi (17-0, 13 KOs) of Accra, Ghana was in action in May in Birmingham, where he scored a unanimous decision against Pawel Stepien. London’s unbeaten Dan Azeez (20-0, 13 KOs) won his previous bout in July in Verbania, Italy by points decision against Khalid Graidia, following the 12th-round stoppage of Thomas Faure in March in Paris. Both fighters are looking to secure their first respective world title shot.
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