It’s been another busy couple of weeks, travelling to press conferences, media days and attending events. This week marks the eagerly anticipated grudge match between two of Britain’s fierecest rivals, Leigh Wood and Josh Warrington. While tensions appeared to be managed at yesterday’s press conference, if the rematch follows the same pattern as the first fight, expect an absolute barnstormer!

Warrington seemed to buzz Wood in the opening exchanges of the first fight in Sheffield, however the tide seemed to turn after the Leeds man was docked a point in the seventh round for punching to the back of the head. Wood bit down on his gum shield and unleashed a flurry of punches in the seventh round which sent Warrington crashing down on the canvas. The referee stopped a halt to the contest after Warrington stumbled back to his corner, a decision that has ruffled some feathers in the Josh Warrington camp.

The sold out Nottingham arena will be a cauldron of noise on Saturday night as Warrington seeks redemption and Wood attempts to firmly close the chapter on an intense rivalry.

Also on the bill is Ishmael Davis who challenges Bilal Fawaz for the English super-welterweight title. At the press conference I was able to speak with Fawaz’s long-time sponsor Dan Moriarty (founder of panther sports). We discussed his journey from hearing about Bilal’s story to then joining him and ultimately helping him financially on his journey to becoming British champion. (A clip of that interview is linked below)

Tune into DAZN for a thrilling night of Boxing in Nottingham on Saturday night!

I had the privilege of attending the launch event of Matchrooms 5-year extension with DAZN in Canary Wharf on Wednesday. This new deal will see a minimum of 30 shows aired annually across the UK and the US. A further agreement was also reached between Foxtel (a company owned by DAZN) and Matchroom. The deal will see seven events broadcasted on Kayo Sport and Foxtel in Australia, a market Matchroom has actively explored in recent years.

There was a lot of skepticism when Matchroom chose to leave traditional broadcasting (Sky Sports) in 2021 and join DAZN a leading global Over-The-Top Sports streaming platform. The decision to join is proving to be right considering Sky Sports is not as active in the space, while DAZN has signed up other leading promoters including Queensberry, Golden Boy and Boxxer.

Having a strong broadcast agreement is fundamental to the longevity of a promotional company considering the cost involved in staging events. This deal allows Matchroom to stage more events in multiple markets which will only help it in its ambition to become a global brand. For DAZN, extending with Matchroom was equally as important considering the platform has ambitions to become the global home of Boxing.

What is often overlooked is the importance of broadcast deals on the wider boxing eco-system. More dates allows for more fights which ultimately allows more fighters to sign with a promoter. The recent wave of announcements in 2026 show that there will be more UK based events as opposed to them perhaps being an undercard fight on a big Riyadh Season show. The announcement of David Morell v Callum Smith proves this as in the past this might have been the first fight on a big card. Instead, this will be held at the M&S Bank Arena in front of a raucous Liverpool crowd for the WBO interim light heavyweight title.