The professional boxing debut of light-heavyweight prospect Jack Fincham will be postponed until early 2021, it was announced today by BOXXER, his promotional home.
Fincham, who boxed 26 times as an amateur, was set to contest his first professional bout at next week’s BOXXER #TuesdayNightFightNight event, which takes place Tuesday, November 10 and airs live on both BT Sports and ITV 4 from 8pm.
But doctors this week advised Fincham to undergo surgery as soon as possible after a hospital because of increasing inability to breathe through his nose. He was found to be suffering a broken nose and badly deviated septum stemming from injuries sustained in a road accident last month.
Fincham will undergo surgery Saturday and his scheduled bout will move to an early 2021 card, though he plans to be in the BT Sport Studios on Tuesday night to watch the super-middleweight tournament play out.
“I was absolutely devastated when I realized I wasn’t going to be able to fight. I felt like I had let everyone down – my friends, family, trainer, team mates,” said Fincham today.
“I broke my nose on the steering wheel in last month’s crash. My trainer Ben Davidson and everyone in the gym kept telling me there’s no way I’d be able to stay in the fight but I didn’t want to back out, so I tried working around it.
“I’ve not been able to breathe through the left side of my nose since the accident. It kept getting worse so we went to get it looked at, and that’s when they found all this structural damage and advised me to get surgery as soon as possible.
“It means I can’t fight on Tuesday and I’m devastated, absolutely gutted. I can’t tell you how much I wanted this. I was so ready for it. I’m going to be in the ring as soon as BOXXER can line up a new date for me, so probably early 2021.”
BOXXER’s Ben Shalom commented, “Our main concern is Jack’s health and we wish him a speedy recovery from this essential surgery. He is heartbroken but very fired up – he’s already asked for a slot on the first BOXXER card of 2021 and we’re working on a date right now.”
Next week’s #TuesdayNightFightNight event, presented in association with William Hill and Lucozade, takes place in a closed-door environment at the BT Sports Studios in Stratford, London.
A live simultaneous broadcast of the three-hour event will air from 8pm on BT Sport and ITV 4, with several intense undercard bouts setting the stage for the four-man super-middleweight (168 lbs) knockout tournament which headlines the card.
On-air talent for the evening will feature some household names from the sports world, including former champion Paulie Malignaggi and veteran analyst Steve Bunce. They will be joined by Layla Anna Lee, Savage Dan and Will Perry.
The full fight card is as follows:
BOXXER
Tuesday 10th November
#TuesdayNightFightNight
SUPER-MIDDLEWEIGHT FOUR-MAN TOURNAMENT
Zak Chelli
Ben Ridings
Harry Woods
Mike McGoldrick
UNDERCARD
All bouts 6 x 3 Minute Rounds
Mikael Lawal v Ossie Jervier
Cruiserweight Contest
Derrick Osaze v John Telford
Middleweight Contest
Florian Marku v Muma Mweemba
Welterweight Contest
