As World Boxing News has tried to cover responsibly, fans are obviously waiting to know more than anything when the sport can resume following the coronavirus pandemic.
Back in early March, WBN was the first to state boxing would be off the menu for months despite some attempts to keep respective April and May bouts alive.
Now, we can go even further on this.
WBN can reveal any shows in June or July are highly likely to be off the menu too.
Here’s why.
Wuhan, where this disease emerged, has just allowed its residents restricted movement after 76 days of lockdown.
Cheers and light shows marked the start of what’s predicted to be a slow and steady allowance of normal life over the next few weeks and months.
Judging by the facts, the US and UK are set to be on course for similar. All dependent on the spread and control of the disease.
This means the end of May will almost certainly have seen some form of freedom returning to humanity for the population of the West.
Freedom
It’s good news that there’s light at the end of this dark tunnel, potentially in just five or six weeks’ time. But this outcome will be a staggered process.
Allowing shops to open with limited physical contact and personal protection equipment evident will be a welcome beginning.
Restaurants could allow window service for take out food, whilst bars may be able to serve to a smaller capacity of people practicing social distancing.
However, this all comes with hefty caution.
Any reemergence of cases would see lockdown implemented again and by no means can be taken as all is fine with the world again.
Therefore, sporting events with a high capacity of people present will be firmly outlawed, for now.
If for example, mid-May sees a slight relaxation, that situation has to be monitored on a week-by-week basis.
It could be July before any public gatherings of 50 to 100 people are even considered. Taking that leap to thousands could still be even further away.
Lockdown
Premier League football and other sports should be able to go ahead over the summer, but at first on a fanless basis in empty stadiums. Medical staff, as with boxing, are required to be present. This means the NHS will have to have COVID-19 under some sort of control before any doctors or nurses are allowed to attend games.
For boxing, this kind of need a far more apparent. If a promoter stages a show consisting of twelve bouts, it’s almost a guarantee that a portion of those will need hospital treatment. This is unlike football or most other sports, which usually can get through their games injury-free, for the most part.
This is why pugilism could be one of the last to be green-lighted, with or without punters present in arenas.
August would be a good target date for the first wave of events, although September could be a better prediction that fights will be staged every weekend from then on.
Losing a good six months of the year will be damaging for a lot of careers, especially the older guard. Many will be looking to make up for lost time immediately.
The only consolation for anyone in all of this is the fact we can all expect a packed fall schedule. Only provided the very worst of this coronavirus is far behind us by then.
Social distancing is working. If we stay home and save lives, boxing will be back before we know it.
