Beterbiev title defense to be moved or postponed?

Two weeks from tonight, the next major World Championship fight is scheduled to take place in Quebec, Canada, as Unified Light Heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev of Russia is supposed to make a 12-round title defense. However, it looks like at the minimum that the location of the fight, if not the fight itself may be in jeopardy.

Boxingscene.com senior writer Keith Idec reported Friday afternoon that all options to stage the fight are on the table. And that includes, either it be moved to another location, postponed or maybe still fought later this Spring in Quebec or somewhere else:

Beterbiev-Meng Still On For 3/28, But Site Sought Outside Of Quebec https://t.co/ELDxPxqpHV pic.twitter.com/X3qg1Byt4f

— BoxingScene.com (@boxingscene) March 13, 2020

The unbeaten Beterbiev, who resides in Montreal and has fought in Quebec more than 10 times in his pro career, has been looking forward to the first defense of his Unified Title after he defeated Oleksandr Gvozdyk in Philadelphia by 10th round TKO last October. That added the WBC belt to Beterbiev’s IBF title.

The former Russian Olympian in the 2008 and 2012 Summer Games, is 15 – 0 as a pro, all by knockout.

Meanwhile, his opponent is unbeaten Chinese contender Meng Fanlong, who is ranked number one by the IBF. Fanlong is 16 – 0 with 10 KOs and was a 2012 Olympian who’s been a professional since 2015. He is seeking to become the first Chinese born fighter above Featherweight to ever win a World Championship. Fanlong lives and trains currently in the New York/New Jersey area.

As Idec reports, the province of Quebec and their health officials have declared that due to the Coronavirus scare that they are banning gatherings of more than 250 people. That means that if the fight goes ahead, it will be fought like the “ShowBox” card in the United States on Friday night from Minnesota in front of only a few family and essential personnel.

Top Rank Boxing and the IBF and ESPN TV could try to reschedule the fight on short notice for another location besides Quebec, Canada, but obviously, the circumstances are the same in the United States with “mass gatherings” for sporting events for the near future.

Top Rank Thursday postponed it’s two New York shows for Saturday night and Tuesday that were to have featured WBO Featherweight Champ, Shakur Stevenson this weekend and Irish 126 lb. sensation contender, Michael Conlan next week.

So it seems, there are only two real possibilities: fight the Beterbiev fight in front of virtually no fans, or postpone and try to reschedule for later in April or maybe early May either still in Quebec, the United States or somewhere else?