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Karim Guerfi vs. Lee McGregor European Bantamweight Title
Showdown Friday On ESPN+
Bantamweight phenom Lee McGregor has captured British and
Commonwealth titles. He is now ready to conquer Europe.
McGregor, from Edinburgh, Scotland, will challenge European
bantamweight champion Karim Guerfi in a 12-round showdown
this Friday, March 19 from University of Bolton Stadium in
Bolton, England.
Guerfi-McGregor will headline a card streaming live and
exclusively in the United States on ESPN+ starting at 3 p.m.
ET/12 p.m. PT.
Guerfi (29-4, 9 KOs), from Manosque, France, is a three-time
European bantamweight champion who challenged for an interim
flyweight world title in 2012. He has not fought since
November 2019, when he knocked out countryman Georges Ory in
nine rounds. Guerfi has won his last three European
bantamweight title bouts, all by knockout. McGregor (9-0, 7
KOs) captured the Commonwealth bantamweight crown in October
2018 in just his fifth pro bout, knocking out Thomas Essomba
in the 12th round. He unified the British and Commonwealth
crowns in November 2019 with a razor-thin split decision
over Ukashir Farooq. McGregor returned from a career-long
layoff last August and stopped Ryan Walker in five rounds.
In other streaming action:
The streaking Maxi Hughes (22-5-2, 4 KOs) will battle
Belfast veteran Paul Hyland Jr. (20-2, 7 KOs) in a
12-rounder for the vacant British lightweight title. Hughes
has scored upset victories in his last two bouts with
decisions over the previously unbeaten Viktor Kotochigov and
former world title challenger Jono Carroll. Hyland is coming
off a June 2019 knockout loss to Francesca Patera for the
European lightweight title.
Belfast-born super middleweight contender Padraig “The
Hammer” McCrory (11-0, 5 KOs) will fight fellow unbeaten
Germaine Brown (9-0, 3 KOs) in an eight-rounder. McCroy is
coming off last September’s first-round blitzing of the
normally durable Mickey Ellison.
In an eight-round junior welterweight bout, Jamie Robinson
(10-4-1, 3 KOs), winner of four straight, will look to make
it five in a row against Billy Allington (8-1-2).
Undefeated junior middleweight prospect Eryk Apresyan (7-0,
5 KOs) makes his UK debut against Nathan Bendon (3-3-1, 1
KO) in a six-rounder.
The ESPN+ stream is scheduled to start with the return of
junior featherweight prospect Shabaz Masoud (7-0, 1 KO)
against nine-year veteran Louis Norman (14-8-1, 2 KOs) in a
six-rounder.
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