The British Boxing Board of Control has suspended boxing for the entire month of January in the wake of spikes in COVID-19 infection statistics in the U.K, leading to several already-planned cards within Great Britain being called off.
That includes Matchroom Boxing's Jan. 30 card with an announced main event of David Avanesyan vs. Josh Kelly for the European welterweight championship. The only other fight confirmed beneath the 12-rounder was another contest at 147 lb, pitting Florian Marku against Rylan Charlton over eight rounds.
"Matchroom will announce the rescheduled Avanesyan vs. Kelly date as soon as possible," a statement from the promotion read.
Another show sent back to the drawing board by the BBBofC's ruling is the MTK Fight Night on Jan. 22, which was set to be headlined by Karim Guerfi vs. Lee McGregor for Guerfi's European bantamweight title. Sean McComb vs. Gavin Gwynne for the vacant Commonwealth lightweight strap was positioned as chief support.
Avanesyan vs. Kelly is a bout that has been plagued by bad luck: it was initially set for 2018, only to be postponed back then as well. Guerfi vs. McGregor has also notched its second cancellation following an initial planned date of Nov. 11.
The BBBofC's official statement read: "Following the increase in Covid-19 cases in the United Kingdom and the effects such increases has on the NHS and the work of the Board Medical Officers, it has been decided that no tournaments under the jurisdiction of the British Boxing Board of Control will take place in January 2021.
"A further review by the Board’s Medical Panel and Stewards will take place later in January in relation to tournaments from February onwards."
Matchroom Boxing chief Eddie Hearn later responded to the development on Twitter, adding: "Seen the statement from the BBBofC that January shows will be postponed in the UK. Boxing for us will now re-start early Feb. Hopefully that will be in the U.K. but we will proceed regardless, safely and by any means necessary. To the fighters out there..stay ready!"
The announcement leaves the boxing calendar for early 2021 rather threadbare, though a Jan. 14 card in Tokyo remains on, Sergey Kovalev vs. Bektemir Melikuziev and Caleb Plant vs. Caleb Truax headline separate Jan. 30 cards in Moscow and Los Angeles, respectively, and Angelo Leo defends his WBO junior-featherweight title against Stephen Fulton in Uncasville, Conn. on Jan. 23. The Kovalev card will be available live on DAZN.