Callum Smith Makes Ring Return on Joshua-Usyk Undercard
We know now the details of the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s huge IBF, WBA, WBO and IBO Heavyweight World Title showdown with Oleksandr Usyk at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday September 25. The Heavyweight division’s biggest attraction puts his Unified crown on the line once more against former Undisputed Cruiserweight World Champion and pound-for-pound star Usyk live on Sky Sports Box Office in the UK and Ireland and on DAZN in over 170 countries and territories worldwide.
WBO Cruiserweight World Champion Lawrence Okolie (16-0, 13 KOs) puts his World Title on the line for the first time against his Mandatory Challenger Dilan Prasovic (15-0, 12 KOs) following his crushing sixth round stoppage of Krzysztof Glowacki at The SSE Arena, Wembley back in March.
By winning a World Title in just his sixteenth fight, the unbeaten 28-year-old from Hackney nicknamed ‘The Sauce’ emulated fellow Brits Tony Bellew, David Haye, Enzo Maccarinelli, Johnny Nelson and Carl Thompson who all previously held world crowns in the 200lb class.
📜 The #JoshuaUsyk undercard:
🔘 #OkoliePrasovic
🔘 #SmithCastillo
🔘 #ProdanMarku
🔘 #HattonDura pic.twitter.com/4e4VnogPkX— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) August 25, 2021
Montenegro’s Prasovic, a former WBO Cruiserweight Youth World Champion, sits at No.1 in the world with the governing body having won all fifteen of his fights since turning professional in October 2014, with twelve of those wins coming by way of knockout.
Former WBA Super-Middleweight World Champion Callum Smith (27-1, 19 KOs) makes his highly anticipated ring return up at Light-Heavyweight against the Dominican Republic’ Lenin Castillo (21-3-1, 16 KOs) after his points loss to Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez out in Texas last December.
Manchester Lightweight prospect Campbell Hatton (3-0) continues his education in the professional ranks when he takes on Spain’s Izan Dura (3-7) hot on the back of his comfortable points win over Jakub Laskowski on the first week of Matchroom Fight Camp.
‘The Albanian King’ Florian Marku (8-0-1, 6 KOs) looks to build on his impressive stoppage win over Rylan Charlton on the Avanesyan vs. Kelly undercard in February as he challenges Milan’s Maxim Prodan (19-0-1, 15 KOs) for the IBF International Welterweight Title and unbeaten Chicago Middleweight Christopher Ousley (12-0, 9 KOs) meets Russia’s Khasan Baysangurov (21-1, 11 KOs) for the WBA Intercontinental Title.
Marquis Johns is a unknown humorist and avid boxing fan. His love for the sweet science goes back to when matches were 15 rounds and has been covering fights since closed-circuit pay-per-views. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth is not only a quote by Mike Tyson, it's also a pretty good reminder to keep your guard up.