After the success of their stacked ‘Magnificent Seven’ show last November, Queensberry look set to continue with the winning formula by promoting another multi-title card in Birmingham on March 16th.
European super bantamweight champion Liam Davies, British middleweight champion Nathan Heaney and former British super middleweight champion Zach Parker are all rumored to be in action on the show but the bill has also received an injection of heavyweight glamour.
After suffering consecutive stoppage defeats to China’s Zhilei Zhang, Boxing News report that Joe Joyce (15-2, 14 KO’s) will fight Kash Ali (21-2, 12 KO’s).
The past twelve months couldn’t have gone much worse for Joyce who began 2023 as the WBO’s interim champion and seemed poised for some big nights but whilst the heavyweight division has exploded after the influx of interest and money from Saudi Arabia, Joyce has found himself on the outside looking in.
Zhang first stunned Joyce last April, outboxing ‘The Juggernaut’ and forcing a doctor’s stoppage after six impressive rounds.
The pair met in a rematch last September and Zhang produced an even more emphatic display, knocking Joyce out in the third round of a one-sided fight.
That second defeat to Zhang was so damaging that there were serious questions as to whether 38-year-old Joyce would continue boxing and he will be aiming to rebuild his confidence by getting past Ali in drama free fashion before looking for a way back into the heavyweight mix.
Ali is best know to boxing fans for his disqualification defeat to David Price in 2019. The 32-year-old was thrown out in the fifth round for biting the giant Liverpudlian. Ali has reeled off six victories since then but lost a six-round decision to Ukraine’s Bohdan Myronets in his last appearance last July.
Solomon Dacres (8-0, 2 KO’s) will put his English heavyweight title on the line against David Adeleye (12-1, 11 KO’s) in a fight that will have ramifications for both men.
Dacres had a tougher than expected fight with Michael Webster last November, eventually retaining his belt via majority decision and the hope will be that a fight with a dangerous and ambitious fighter like Adeleye brings out his true potential. Adeleye, of course, was stopped in a high profile British and Commonwealth title fight with Fabio Wardley in Saudi Arabia last October. Still only 27 years old, this is an important fight for Adeleye who needs to prove that he can be successful at domestic level.