The Manchester Arena has seen some terrific nights of boxing throughout the years, and been home to the likes of Ricky Hatton, Anthony Crolla and Scott Quigg all of whom have packed out the venue.
The arena, which has a capacity of 21,000, is currently the biggest indoor arena in the country and following Scott Quigg’s recent retirement there is now a gap in the market for somebody to make the location their new home.
Here MM take a look at a few possible fighters who could top the bill in the near future – when bouts can resume after the coronavirus outbreak is tackled.
What’s for sure is this quartet would have the backing of the Mancunian crowd…
Zelfa Barrett
The 26-year-old super-featherweight has recently signed a promotional deal with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing and is due to fight on the undercard of Dillian Whyte and Alexander Povetkin at the Manchester Arena on Saturday May 2.
Zelfa is the nephew of former European super-lightweight Champion Pat Barrett – who also trains the youngster.
Nicknamed ‘Brown Flash’, Zelfa has had 24 fights in his professional career, winning 23, with 14 of those victories coming by way of knockout.
He is also currently the Commonwealth super-featherweight champion following a unanimous points decision win over Lyon Woodstock in Leeds last year.
Whilst there has been no opponent announced for his next fight yet, Barrett will be hoping to make a statement and put on a show in front of his home fans.
Lyndon Arthur
The hard-hitting light heavyweight Commonwealth champion has 12 knockouts in just 16 fights. Training out of Collyhurst & Moston ABC, also under the guidance of Pat Barrett, ‘King Arthur’ faces his biggest test to date next as he takes on Anthony Yarde.
Both are a part of Frank Warren’s stable of fighters, so stable bragging rights will be on the line. The fight will take place at London’s O2 Arena, providing chief support to the domestic heavyweight dust-up between Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce on April 11.
Arthur heads into the fight as the underdog, but the eyes of the boxing world will be on the O2 that night, so it is a chance for both his stock to rise. If he can pull off the victory it will propel him closer to a world title.
Hughie Fury
Under the guidance of his father Peter, Hughie Fury has racked up an impressive 24 wins in 27 fights, with 14 of those wins coming by way of knockout.
The 25-year-old is another fighter who doesn’t shy away from a challenge, having taken on the likes of Joseph Parker and Alexander Povetkin in world title fights, as well as going to Bulgaria and taking on Kubrat Pulev.
The cousin of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson, Hughie is on the hunt for his third world title shot and did his chances no harm at all as he returned to winning ways last time out, stopping Pavel Sour in round three on the undercard of Scott Quigg v Jono Carroll at the Manchester Arena.
Amir Khan
One of the most decorated British boxers of all time. Amir Khan won a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics and then went onto become a unified light-welterweight world champion, as well as holding the Commonwealth lightweight and World Boxing Council silver welterweight titles.
‘King Khan’ isn’t one to turn down a fight and has been prepared to fly around the world to be in the biggest bouts possible, having fought at venues such as the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, New York’s Madison Square Garden, King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah and Manchester of course.
At home he’s taken on the likes of Marco Antonio Barrera, Andriy Kotelnyk and Paul McCloskey under the bright lights of the Manchester Arena.
Khan returned to winning ways last time out when he stopped Billy Dib in Saudi Arabia to claim the WBC International welterweight title, and since then the name on everybody’s lips is… Kell Brook.
The fight has been spoken about for years but has never come to fruition, but with the Manchester Arena looking for a new headline name, could we finally see Khan v Brook in front of a sold-out venue?
