LONDON, ENGLAND – (June 12, 2023) – East London’s historic York Hall has been a milestone in the journeys of many British boxing greats, from three-time world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, record-setting super-middleweight Joe Calzaghe and middleweight icon Nigel Benn. 

This Friday, the new generation of Britain’s brightest boxing talent make their first appearances in the famed venue as part of the BOXXER Fight Night event airing live and exclusively on Sky Sports.

The five-fight televised card features Frazer Clarke (6-0, 5 KO’s) and Caroline Dubois (6-0, 5 KO’s)  in key breakout battles, undefeated Irish standout Aaron McKenna (16-0, 8 KO’s) in a WBC title bout, a second instalment of the heated rivalry between Viddal Riley (8-0, 5 KO’s) and Anees Taj (7-3, 5 KO’s) plus the return to the ring of #1 British Cruiserweight Championship contender Isaac Chamberlain (14-2, 8 KO’s)..

Battle-tested veteran Mariusz Wach (37-9, 20 KO’s) awaits Clarke in the ring. The Polish fighter has faced numerous household names of the heavyweight boxing scene and took Hall of Fame inductee Wladimir Klitschko when he challenged him for the unified world heavyweight championship in 2012. 

A stiff test awaits Dubois as she faces South American champion Yanina ‘Panterita’ Lescano (13-2, 4 KO’s), who last year lost a controversial decision in Dubai when she challenged Estelle Mossely in her challenge for the IBO World Lightweight Championship.

With Dubois’ star on the rise – the undefeated young prodigy has scored five of her six wins inside the distance since turning professional last year – Lescano heads to London hoping to stop her momentum and steal her shine, while the ambitious Dubois wants a statement win which will add weight to her calls for world title challenges in the near future.

A literal monster of a title fight occupies the midpoint of the Sky Sports televised card as Aaron McKenna (16-0, 8 KO’s) faces undefeated Uisma ‘Monstro’ Lima (10-8 KO’s) for the WBC International Middleweight Championship, with Lima having an 80% finish rate and three KO wins from his last four outings.

Heated cruiserweight rivals Viddal Riley (8-0,5 KO’s) and Anees Taj are fighting a second instalment of their feud, with neither having been satisfied with the cut stoppage which made Riley the TKO winner of their January first encounter, while Issac Chamberlain – the #1 contender for the British Cruiserweight Championship – returns to the ring in the opening bout of the televised card. 

Super-lightweight prodigy Adam Azim, British boxing’s hottest prospect, had been due to headline this Friday’s event but has been forced to withdraw due to a severe infection in the dorsal hood of his left hand, which his team believe was acquired when Azim cut his knuckles in a training session several weeks ago.

Housing the tendons responsible for finger movement, the infected area has proven resistant to prescription antibiotics and is so painful that Azim could not use the hand in a test sparring session at the end of last week, prompting his team to withdraw him. Azim will be rescheduled for a BOXXER card later this year.

Manchester, England – (May 3, 2022) – Anees Taj (5-1, 4 KO’s) was on track to take a spot in the Pakistan boxing team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics until a late rule change made him illegible. At that point, the law graduate decided to turn professional and see how far he can go.

Next week, on Saturday May 14, he takes part in the eight-man BOXXER Series Manchester: Cruiserweights tournament at Victoria Warehouse, Manchester, live on Sky Sports.

“The plan was always to be a professional boxer. I always enjoyed law, and liked the idea of being a qualified lawyer, but when I beat David Adeleye at the Haringey Box Cup in 2014 I was set on turning professional there and then,” he says.

“My grandfather agreed to help pay for my university fees as long as I finished my degree before turning professional. From then the plan was always to be a professional boxer and have law as a fallback.”

Taj successfully balanced boxing with his study across university by strictly regimenting all his time, winning amateur success and catching the eyes of the Pakistan Olympic Boxing Team along the way.

“I just had a clear, exact timetable for every day, with an exact time for all my training and studying. I’d study in the day, train boxing in the evening and run at night. I usually did my assignments two weeks before they were due.”

Taj had a dream of fighting at the Olympics for Pakistan and had a place assigned to him before sudden eligibility rule changes – instituted due to the COVID pandemic – closed that door for him. Disillusioned with amateur boxing, he made a big decision.

“In the end I would have had to jump through hoops for 9 months and then not even definitely make it to the Olympics, so I realized it was best to just turn professional there and then,” he explains.

And with his ferocious power having earned him four knockouts inside three rounds, plus a history of competing in tournaments as an amateur, he feels the BOXXER Series format plays to his strengths.

“This format is all about work rate. I’m going in for a fight, and whatever happens, happens – it’s either him being knocked out or me being knocked out,” he says.

“The best thing about this tournament is everyone’s coming to win. Beating them will show how good I am. If I didn’t enter this tournament, I’d regret it in a few years looking back. I don’t want to be someone who has regrets and comes back to the sport when they’re too old.”

BOXXER Series events feature an eight-man, one-night tournament: four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and a grand final.

The victorious boxer takes the lion’s share of the prize fund for one-night tournament boxing while every boxer in the tournament has the chance to put a spotlight on himself by putting on a standout performance on the nation’s biggest sports television platform.

Featuring a mix of rising stars and top prospects competing under short-form boxing rules (3 x 3 minute rounds), BOXXER SERIES tournaments offer an unparalleled platform for grassroots British boxing and can send winner’s names rocketing up the rankings list.

Promising non-stop action from start to finish, BOXXER SERIES events are touring every major city in the UK and will feature each region’s best boxing talent, rising stars and local heroes.

Tickets are on sale now via Boxxer.com