BoxRec

Press Release

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT STAR Callum Johnson makes his return to the ring on the undercard of Sunny Edwards' first defence of his IBF world flyweight title at the Copper Box Arena on Saturday September 11, live on BT Sport.

Edwards goes in against mandatory challenger and also 16-0 Jayson Mama from the Philippines following his epic seizing of the title from former long-standing champion Moruti Mthalane back in April.

Johnson, 19-1 (14 KOs), made an emphatic return to the Queensberry ranks in April with an explosive destruction of Croatian tough man Emil Markic in the second round. Now the 35-year-old former world title challenger will look to remain on course for a second shot with a convincing performance against the Serbian Marko Nikolic, 27-1 (12 KOs).

Nikolic has previously held the WBC Mediterranean light heavyweight title and, in his last fight, suffered his only defeat in a challenge for the WBC International Silver title.

Also on the card, popular middleweight Denzel Bentley (14-1, 12 KOs) gets back into the fighting fold with a domestic dust-up against experienced campaigner Andrew Robinson (24-5-1, 7 KOs).

Bentley suffered his only reverse last time out when defending his British title against Felix Cash and will be seeking to quickly restore himself into title contention.

Some of the finest young talents in British boxing take their place on the Copper Box card with ferocious lightweight Mark Chamberlain (8-0, 5 KOs) back in action and looking to prove himself as the No.1 young lightweight on the Queensberry books.

In March, Chamberlain, 22, demolished the usually resolute Jordan Ellison inside 90 seconds with a sickening body shot and will now be aiming to continue his trail of destruction.

His stablemate in Southampton, Ryan Garner (10-0, 6 KOs), is also no stranger to concussive finishes and 'The Piranha' will be taking the next step before closing in on the super featherweight title challenges his huge ability warrants.

Multi-titled former amateur star Charles Frankham (3-0, 1 KO) will have his second fight as a Queensberry fighter after a successful introduction at the SSE Arena, Wembley in July at lightweight, with former senior ABA champion Masood Abdulah (1-0) also in action at super featherweight.

Super bantamweight Umar Khan (1-0), Super Featherweight Masood Abdulah (1-0, 1 KO), Cruiserweight Ellis Zorro (9-0, 4 KO’s) and the debut-making welterweight Khalid Ali complete the card.

What a waste!

At least he's unbeaten at LHW..

Where they find this guy?

cal doing the croation tour it seems

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑18 Aug 2021, 12:54 Where they find this guy?

Frank specialises in Europeans who have good records on paper, have never beat anyone decent and got no chance against the home fighter.

The guy was stopped in his last fight down at Super Middle. Callum will stop inside of 2 rounds And Frank will be talking about getting him a shot at a world title. He’s done it for years.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑18 Aug 2021, 12:54 Where they find this guy?

The super middleweight rankings.

jameswilson wrote: ↑18 Aug 2021, 13:44

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑18 Aug 2021, 12:54 Where they find this guy?

The super middleweight rankings.

Number 136 or sumat.

He is a career LHW+ it seems.. but drained the last fight.

Our top light-heavies seem to be having a competition as to who can fight the most underwhelming opposition.

With this poor opponent, I can only guess they are trying to keep Johnson going unscathed, until they can cash in on one of these big British or world fights.

He’s 35/36 now - he’s been terribly inactive and has wasted some of his prime years unfortunately.

Manchester Hitman wrote: ↑18 Aug 2021, 18:03 With this poor opponent, I can only guess they are trying to keep Johnson going unscathed, until they can cash in on one of these big British or world fights.

He’s 35/36 now - he’s been terribly inactive and has wasted some of his prime years unfortunately.

If his next fight after this isn’t meaningful, so I’m talking the Yarde’s, the Arthur’s, then I’m giving up on him.

Another marking time fight for 35 year old callum johnson

chiggsy wrote: ↑18 Aug 2021, 23:10 Another marking time fight for 35 year old callum johnson

Let him have his tune ups

Fight week!

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑05 Sep 2021, 14:26 Fight week!

I wish Johnson had a fight with someone I’d heard of.

If you look at the b-side of this show, do any of the fighters have 1 decent win?

Poor opponent, but at least Johnson is now active.

Assuming Callum wins fairly easily, Warren should offer him the Yarde next if the Arthur fight has fallen through.

Card has been cancelled.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑08 Sep 2021, 09:16 Card has been cancelled.

My spidey sense suggests the show sold very few tickets...... then the headliner has a mystery injury the week of the fight...... show cancelled.
Notice how much FW has been pushing Edwards on social media, esp the 'twitter champion' BS and Edwards has been ramping that up to lift his profile...... obviously didn't work....

Also look at Edwards's twitter apologies to his opponent etc.

Won't take long to process the refunds

tony1234 wrote: ↑08 Sep 2021, 09:34 Won't take long to process the refunds

yeh, the 15 people..

JamesPhilips wrote: ↑08 Sep 2021, 09:22

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑08 Sep 2021, 09:16 Card has been cancelled.

My spidey sense suggests the show sold very few tickets...... then the headliner has a mystery injury the week of the fight...... show cancelled.
Notice how much FW has been pushing Edwards on social media, esp the 'twitter champion' BS and Edwards has been ramping that up to lift his profile...... obviously didn't work....

Also look at Edwards's twitter apologies to his opponent etc.

Whether it’s legit or not (there’s probably at least some truth in there), it’s a sure fire way to piss off your tv network.

If it’s ever a case of a show needing to be cancelled because they’ve lost either the main or co main thing then that’s a sign the show wasn’t good enough to begin with.

maverick23 wrote: ↑08 Sep 2021, 09:50

JamesPhilips wrote: ↑08 Sep 2021, 09:22

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑08 Sep 2021, 09:16 Card has been cancelled.

My spidey sense suggests the show sold very few tickets...... then the headliner has a mystery injury the week of the fight...... show cancelled.
Notice how much FW has been pushing Edwards on social media, esp the 'twitter champion' BS and Edwards has been ramping that up to lift his profile...... obviously didn't work....

Also look at Edwards's twitter apologies to his opponent etc.

Whether it’s legit or not (there’s probably at least some truth in there), it’s a sure fire way to piss off your tv network.

If it’s ever a case of a show needing to be cancelled because they’ve lost either the main or co main thing then that’s a sign the show wasn’t good enough to begin with.

Copperbox holds between 6 to 7 thousand..... I doubt they'd sold more than a 1000

Hearn is the boxing equivalent of Boris Johnson. Personable, charismatic but delivery very rarely matches the rhetoric and quality is pretty poor when you look back on history

Warren is the boxing equivalent of Keir Starmer. A real gap in the market has opened up, the electorate want him to do well but making loads more misses than hits.

This could have been a really nice card but another collapse.

Manchester Hitman wrote: ↑05 Sep 2021, 15:54 but at least Johnson is now active.

garethhop wrote: ↑08 Sep 2021, 10:16 Hearn is the political equivalent of Boris Johnson. Personable, charismatic but delivery very rarely matches the rhetoric and quality is pretty poor when you look back on history

Warren is the politican equivalent of Keir Starmer. A real gap in the market has opened up, the electorate want him to do well but making loads more misses than hits.

This could have been a really nice card but another collapse.

In fairness to Hearn his shows this year have been, on the whole, good.

JamesPhilips wrote: ↑08 Sep 2021, 10:03

maverick23 wrote: ↑08 Sep 2021, 09:50

JamesPhilips wrote: ↑08 Sep 2021, 09:22

My spidey sense suggests the show sold very few tickets...... then the headliner has a mystery injury the week of the fight...... show cancelled.
Notice how much FW has been pushing Edwards on social media, esp the 'twitter champion' BS and Edwards has been ramping that up to lift his profile...... obviously didn't work....

Also look at Edwards's twitter apologies to his opponent etc.

Whether it’s legit or not (there’s probably at least some truth in there), it’s a sure fire way to piss off your tv network.

If it’s ever a case of a show needing to be cancelled because they’ve lost either the main or co main thing then that’s a sign the show wasn’t good enough to begin with.

Copperbox holds between 6 to 7 thousand..... I doubt they'd sold more than a 1000

I don’t disagree but the bulk of their money will be coming from TV.

I can see Sunny having a niggle and Frank telling him we can delay it for a month.