GBM Sports promoter Izzy Asif is delighted to announce that Reece Mould’s WBA Continental Lightweight Championship title defence against Martin McDonagh will be the inaugural event at the brand new Canon Medical Arena in Sheffield on Friday 6th October.
Doncaster star Mould headlines the double-title event billed as the Clash On The Court that also features a fiery Commonwealth Super-Flyweight Championship showdown between rivals Emma Dolan and Nicola Hopewell, Sheffield talents Naphtali Nembhard and Nohmaan Hussain, and many more.
Based at the heart of the Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park, the Canon Medical Arena is the UK’s first carbon-neutral build community arena with multi-purpose sports facility and integrated Medical Diagnostics Centre to improve health and wellbeing in South Yorkshire.
The new built arena will offer a flexible sporting facility, featuring three full-size basketball courts, and designed to hold 2500 spectators. It will be the new home for the B. Braun Sheffield Sharks and the B. Braun Sheffield Hatters (women) professional basketball teams and the arena will be available to wider sporting, education, and community organisations.
In the first ever event to be staged at the Canon Medical Arena, all-action Mould (18-1-0, 6 KO’s) makes the first defence of his WBA Continental Title when he collides with hard domestic rival McDonagh (12-2-0, 1 KO) from Sheerness, Kent. The exciting all-British clash puts everything on the line and the winner move a step closer to World title honours.
Chief support on the card sees a big East Midlands derby clash between fierce rivals Emma Dolan (5-0-0, 1 KO) and Nicola ‘Hurricane’ Hopewell (3-0-0, 1 KO). Dolan from Newark makes the first defence of the Commonwealth Super-Flyweight Championship against Worksop’s unbeaten Hopewell with plenty of pride and ‘bragging rights’ at stake.
On the undercard former star Sheffield Sharks small forward Naphtali Nembhard transitions from basketball to make his professional boxing debut in the middleweight division.
Undefeated Sheffield bantamweight prospect Nohmaan Hussain (3-0-0), who also works as an NHS cardiac intensive care practitioner, aims to continue his winning record.
Further top talents from Sheffield also appear, including: cruiserweight Sheldon McDonald (6-1-0, 2 KO’s), super-featherweight Faraqat Ali (7-0-0), welterweight Bree Burbeary (3-0-0, 1 KO) and super-middleweight Red Johnson (3-0-0)
Completing the card will be the latest protege under top trainer Ben Davison the unbeaten Oldham Bantamweight Will Cawley (3-0-0, 1 KO) plus, Conisborough welterweight Joe Hayden (10-0-0) and Worksop welterweight Declan Cairns (6-1-0, 1 KO).
With five highly successful and sold-out shows staged under the GMB Sports banner, Asif believes that this will be his most impressive and stunning event to date and fitting to open the new arena with.
Asif, CEO of GBM Sports, said, “I’m absolutely thrilled to be the first promoter to stage an event in the fantastic new Canon Medical Arena and I’m counting down the days until we can open the doors of this incredible new venue for Sheffield. Not only is it a major boost for the city but also for boxing in the UK with another great venue to showcase our sport. This is a major statement of intent for GBM Sports in our short history as we continue to break new ground and grow our business. We look forward to staging regular top class shows here with even bigger and better to come. I’d like to thank Yuri Matischen, Mazher Iqbal and MP Richard Caborn for all their hard work in helping to put this tremendous deal together.”
Yuri Matischen, Managing Director of the Canon Medical Arena, said, “We look forward to welcoming GBM Sports as our first ever boxing event in the Canon Medical Arena. One of the main reasons we built this venue was to be able to offer a venue of this size to local sporting hubs as an outlet and means by which to showcase. Boxing is such a popular, and important sport here in South Yorkshire and is ingrained into the local culture, we are excited to be able to put it on display here in Sheffield.”
