Tony Bellew has replaced Callum Johnson on the bill at the First Direct Arena in Leeds on September 5, live on Sky Sports.
Liverpool star Bellew is hunting a third World title shot and first up at Cruiserweight after he gained revenge over bitter foe Nathan Cleverly in a rematch in November and returned to the ring in June with a stoppage victory following a stint in America filming Creed, the latest film in the iconic Rocky series.
Bellew takes the place of unbeaten Light Heavyweight Johnson who has been forced to pull out of a clash with Southampton’s Tony Hill with a virus.
‘The Bomber’ has been in camp with trainer Dave Coldwell, who’s duties will be carried out by Tony Sims on fight night with Coldwell in Texas for Jamie McDonnell’s WBA World Bantamweight title rematch with Tomoki Kameda on Sunday September 6 live on Sky Sports, and Bellew
“Eddie and I have things planned going forward but this outing in Leeds is a bonus for me to stay active and try things out,” said Bellew.
“I’d been ill ahead of my last fight, I’m not making excuses, but I just chose to get the rounds in and in the end I did get him out of there. It was good to get that through that return from eight months out and in Leeds it’s another vital building block to another World title shot.”
Bellew is part of a huge night of action in Yorkshire as Josh Warrington defends his Commonwealth and WBC International Featherweight titles against Joel Brunker.
Martin Murray faces Jose Miguel Torres for the WBA Inter Continental Super Middleweight title, there’s a pair of English title bouts as Andy Townend defends his Super Featherweight crown against Lee Glover while Isaac Lowe and Jamie Speight contest the vacant Featherweight strap and unbeaten Birmingham Super Flyweight star Kal Yafai is in action.
Tickets are on general sale now with tickets priced at £30, £40, £60 and £100 available from the First Direct Arena on 0844 248 1585 and at www.firstdirectarena.com. VIP tickets priced at £150 are available exclusively from Matchroom Boxing on 01277 359900 and at www.matchroomboxing.com.
Tickets for September 5 are also available from http://www.stubhub.co.uk/matchroom-boxing-tickets/ – StubHub is the official ticket partner and marketplace of Matchroom Boxing.
