Matchroom Boxing’s first-ever event in Africa is on. Main-event fighters Craig Richards and Dan Azeez came in under the 175lbs limit, though they cut it close: Richards hit the scale at 174.7lbs, while Azeez was 174.5lbs.
Richards’ claim to fame at the elite level is his performance against Dmitry Bivol in 2021. Though he lost by unanimous decision, Richards won five rounds on two scorecards, accounting for a couple of the closest scores in Bivol’s career to date. In his last fight, the 19-4-1 (8 KOs) Richards put Padraig McCrory down for the count with a body shot in the eighth round.
Azeez, 22-2-1 (14 KOs), has never fought an opponent as good as Bivol, though both he and Richards have lost to Joshua Buatsi by unanimous decision. Since losing to Lewis Edmondson last year, Richards has won two straight – though both were scheduled six-rounders, and his bout with Richards is over the full 12-round distance.
Richards is 35 and Azeez is 36, minimizing the possibility that one fighter has far more in the tank than the other and that we’re in for a sad affair. The card will stream on DAZN from Legon Sports Stadium in Accra, Ghana’s largest city.
Full weights for the card are below.
12 rounds, light heavyweights
Craig Richards: 174.7lbs
Dan Azeez: 174.5lbs
8 rounds, light heavyweights
Freezy Macbones: 174.7lbs
Jonathan Tetteh: 174.7lbs
12 rounds, junior bantamweights
Theo Allotey: 114.2lbs
Jayr Raquinel: 114.6lbs
4 rounds, heavyweights
Leo Atang: 234.9lbs
Babu Yusuf: 231.6lbs
10 rounds, junior middleweights
Ibrahima Diallo: 153.3lbs
Sampson Segbedzi: 154lbs
6 rounds, middleweights
Nishant Dev: 159.4lbs
Ally Mbukwa: 155.4lbs
Prelims
8 rounds, junior welterweights
Jerry Lartey: 138.9lbs
Jesse Brandon: 139.8lbs
8 rounds, featherweights
John Lareya: 125.5lbs
Holy Dogbetor: 124.8lbs
8 2-minute rounds, junior middleweights
Sedem Adama: 152.4lbs
Chiamaka Nwaturocha: 149.6lbs
