British Government and sports begin to look at resuming

The first tangible signs that sports, including boxing, maybe resuming as soon as next month in the U.K. have begun to be formally discussed.

This after British prime minister Boris Johnson gave a Sunday night address in which he encouraged everyone that precautionary slow steps to resume some normalcy, including sports, were being outlined and discussed:

BREAKING: Top-level sport in England could restart behind closed doors from June 1st, the Government has announced.

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) May 11, 2020

Then, as a follow-up on Monday afternoon, the government put forth an outline, including scenarios in which sports can resume with no fans in attendance for the foreseeable future.

Sports fans in England, as well as throughout Europe, are most anxious to know whether the massively popular English Premier League soccer will be able to finish it season? This after it ground to a halt, along with all other sports worldwide, in the second week in March.

The belief all along has been that the Premier League would try to conclude its 2019 – 20 season, when it became more reasonable and safer to resume after the outbreak of Covid-19 worldwide.

Sports media and economic experts in Europe have maintained postponing of the Premier League and it’s 92 total matches remaining could cost in the neighborhood of $1.5 – 2 billion in revenue, television rights etc.

The guidelines will be discussed this week by the Premier League and it’s clubs, about when and how they can resume to train (practice) and that games in empty venues for their end of their season could be back at some point in early June.

As we have written previously, boxing in the U.K. is also anxious to resume, when it is reasonable to do so. And, the sport will be able to follow the lead of the Premier League. More importantly, it is much easier to execute fights in smaller settings without fans.

This, as they only have two combatants with their cornerman and far less personnel would have to be involved to execute the events.

Matchroom Boxing promoter, Eddie Hearn, has repeatedly maintained that they will be ready to have fights at some point this summer, including the heavyweight battle between English contender Dillian Whyte and Russian former IBF heavyweight champ, Alexander Povetkin. Hearn basically confirmed a week ago that the Whyte-Povetkin fight, originally scheduled for May 3rd in Manchester, will be held without fans possibly on July 4th.

Hearn, however, maintained that the much more prominent Unified Heavyweight Title defense of England’s Anthony Joshua against current IBF number one contender, Kubrat Pulev that was scheduled for London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next month and would have had 65,000 fans in attendance will wait.

Then, maybe in the fall,  fans can attend the fight whether it is held in the U.K. or elsewhere in September, October, etc.

There is a lot to sort out, but at least the discussions have begun.