We all know boxing is on hold for the foreseeable future. It’s a sport that always relies heavily on medical support and stringent safety measures.
As the world battles the effects of COVID-19, our discipline will be one of the last to finally resume due to the need for hospital staff and doctors.
Riding the coronavirus curve to its imminent peak over the next few days, it will take weeks for everyday life to get back on track.
At present, hopeful promoters are pinning their earnings in June or July for their schedules to kick on. But realistically, that won’t happen until later this year or early next.
Testing
Testing is set to be ramped up after this disease hits the other side of the hill. That’s when governments worldwide will then, and only then, consider relaxing lockdown measures.
Getting out of our quarantines seems to be at least three to four weeks away. Maybe more judging by the worst affected areas.
But the prospect of sporting events with massive crowds of people attending could be over six months away due to this pandemic.
So where does that leave those hoping to stage lucrative fights in the interim?
One option would be to begin private testing of all fighters once it’s widely available. That should ideally come hand-in-hand with keeping boxers in camps together in the same facility.
As some countries are worse affected than others, it could be just a case of the higher-profile bouts that can make a turnover happen first.
This doesn’t mean lesser-known boxers will miss out; they’ll need to be housed in the same building, preferably where the fight will end up being televised.
Whether this has to be on a private island or out of the bigger cities will be up to the powers in conjunction with health authorities. The one big stipulation would be that any venue staging an event does have medical facilities.
This factor can only see benefits once the crisis is under some initial control.
Announcing a card and immediately separating those participants, say 20 competitors for testing, would be where we could, at least, start proceedings.
Testing and congregating together could ensure immediate quarantine conditions before work can begin on production.
Pay Per View option
The way things are right now, having fans attending, even in a few weeks or months, could still be too early. Therefore, every show occurring would potentially have to have some charge attached to it.
Pay-Per-View has to come into play to compensate for lost ground, possibly in every event under these conditions. If anything, this will just be to pay for the build-up surroundings alone.
But, providing this can be done, there is light at the end of the tunnel in 2020. Otherwise, the whole year could be a washout from the Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder rematch onwards.
Safety is paramount, although testing is the eventual key to resumption. Maybe even allow those with the antibodies in their system – for now – to compete.
Judging by the numbers currently circulating and rising, that could be around 20% of those presently signed to promotional rosters.
So, we have a potential solution relying heavily on backing from respective medical officers.
If we don’t work this out, boxing could be entirely off the menu this year.
Let’s hope the former happens, and fans can see some normality as the boxers finally do what they do best.
