Matchroom Boxing vs. Queensberry Promotions 5-v-5 card was announced today for June 1st on DAZN in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The card has some excellent fights that could be a main event on it’s own.
Fans were already aware of virtually all the fights on the 5v5 card, as they were leaked many weeks ago, but it’s good to finally have it made official.
Wilder vs. Zhang: High Stakes
The fight that is catching the attention from many fans is the heavyweight clash between former WBC champion Deontay Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) and Zhilie Zhang (26-2, 21 KOs). The two are both coming off losses to Joseph Parker, and are up there in age.
Wilder hinted today that he could retire if he loses to Zhang, as that would be his second consecutive defeat and it would be difficult for him to come back from it.
Wilder vs. Zhang: High Stakes
Heavyweight Filip Hrgovic (17-0, 14 KOs) will be putting his IBF mandatory spot on the line against Daniel Dubois (20-2, 19 KOs) in a fight that will put the winner in position to face Anthony Joshua in a lucrative match for the vacant Belt.
Hrgovic pointed out today that he got the better of Dubois in sparring a while ago. Dubois said that he’s improved since their sparring, and he will show Hrgovic that he’s a different animal now.
Dubois has to display the same aggressiveness in this fight that he did in his last match against Jarrell Miller last December. That version of Dubois has an excellent chance of beating Hrvgovic, as long as he doesn’t get clipped by one of his punches behind the head.
Ford vs. Ball: A Potential Featherweight War
WBA featherweight champion Raymon Ford (15-0-1, 8 KOs) will defend his title against Nick Ball (19-0-1, 11 KOs) in a fight that could be a real war. Ball is coming off a 12-round draw against WBC champion Rey Vargas, which arguably should have lost due to the roughhouse tactics that he used throughout the contest.
It’s going to be interesting to see how Ford deals with the fouling that Ball does in the fight, and whether the referee polices the stuff. Ball is a boxer/MMA type of fighter, who throws the rule book out the window for his fights.
Full Card:
- Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol – (Undisputed light-heavyweight titles
- Deontay Wilder (Matchroom) vs Zhilei Zhang (Queensberry)
- Daniel Dubois (Queensberry) vs Filip Hrgovic (Matchroom)
- Raymond Ford (Matchroom) vs Nick Ball (Queensberry) – (WBA featherweight title)
- Craig Richards (Matchroom) vs Willy Hutchinson (Queensberry)
- Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams (Matchroom) vs Hamzah Sheeraz (Queensberry)