Hearn to organise fights in his back garden

Heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, is planning to organise fights in his own back garden when professional boxing returns in July from the Covid-19 lockdown.

Hearn’s mansion home and headquarters in Brentwood, northeast of London, has extensive grounds and he envisages fight nights on four consecutive weekends behind closed doors.

“It is a huge mission,” the Matchroom boss said.

“We are going to turn our headquarters here into an outdoor venue for live boxing.

“Just imagine it. It is summer, the house is all lit up, you can see Canary Wharf in the distance and fireworks are going off.

“Then over the hill walk Dillian Whyte and Alexander Povetkin for a massive tear-up on my lawn.”

The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) has said it hoped to resume professional boxing in Britain in July, but with strict conditions and no spectators.

Whyte and Russian heavyweight Povetkin were due to fight in Manchester on May 2 for the WBC interim belt, but that was postponed when the BBBofC banned all fights due to the pandemic.

Hearn’s plan was for an all-British title bout between women’s WBC super-featherweight champion Terri Harper and Natasha Jonas in mid-July leading up to an August clash between Whyte and Povetkin.

“We are building changing rooms for the fighters, setting up a space for a ring walk, and figuring out how we can do everything you need for this kind of production with as few people as possible,” Hearn said.