Austin Williams and Felix Cash will share an undercard before they share the ring.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that the pair of unbeaten middleweights will appear in separate bouts on the already announced April 1 Anthony Joshua-Jermaine Franklin DAZN show from The O2 in London. Wins by both boxers will lead to a head-on collision targeted for June in London, confirming a development first reported by UK-based outlet International Boxing News.
Cash’s place on the April 1 show was previously secured, as the 29-year-old Brit will face Italy’s Matteo Signani (32-6-3, 12KOs) in a scheduled 12-round EBU middleweight title fight.
Williams (13-0, 9KOs)—a Milwaukee-bred prospect now based in Houston, Texas—will face River Wilson-Bent (14-2-1, 6KOs)., a 29-year-old middleweight from Coventry, Warwickshire. The late addition to the show will mark the fourth career fight outside the U.S. and third in the UK for Williams. His last overseas bout was a sixth-round knockout of Javier Maciel on the John Ryder-Daniel Jacobs card last February 12 in the London suburb of Muswell Hill.
Williams and Cash posted wins one week apart last December, at the time believed to lead to a direct fight in March.
Williams delivered a near-perfect performance in a lopsided decision win over Simon Madsen in their ten-round clash between unbeaten middleweights last December 3 at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. The bout immediately preceded the four-fight DAZN main card headlined by Juan Francisco Estrada’s majority decision win over Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez to defend his lineal junior bantamweight championship in their rubber match.
Cash posted an eight-round points win over Celso Neves one week later in Leeds, England. The victory came at a cost, as Cash suffered a cut above his left eye during their surprisingly grueling affair. Williams was in town throughout fight week and ringside for the win, after which point he and Cash exchanged words—and a brief shove by the Brit—to build up their meeting which was previously targeted for March 11 in Liverpool.
It was decided shortly thereafter that Cash would first go the EBU title route. Matchroom Boxing—who promotes both boxers—scheduled the bout and also provided a stay-busy slot for Williams, whose past five wins came in a 52-week stretch.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox