EDDIE HEARN INSISTED it is “business as usual” — for now — despite the coronavirus pandemic as he promoted Matchroom’s upcoming heavyweight fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Dereck Chisora.

A media event was held on Friday with the two men poised to fight at The O2 Arena on 23 May, a bout promoter Hearn is hoping can still take place. Katie Taylor’s long-awaited scrap with Amanda Serrano is due to happen in Manchester three weeks earlier, but is also still scheduled to occur along with a headline act between Dillian Whyte and Alexander Povetkin.

“At the moment it’s business as usual,” Hearn said to Sky Sports. ”Everything is completely out of our hands and we are led by the government.

I do stress to fans: don’t panic. Anything you’ve got a ticket for that is cancelled or anything you buy a ticket for that is cancelled you will receive a refund in full.

“I think it’s the short-term stuff that is going to be under most threat. The Premier League and EFL stuff is encouraging in a sense where we have a date where things are supposed to go back to normal.”

Hearn is not a fan of the prospect of holding fights behind closed doors for a television-only audience, but would not rule out the possibility.

“I don’t like it,” he added. “Two problems with that. Number one is boxing is a sport built on that energy, those great moments when the crowd goes crazy and everyone’s in the stands singing Sweet Caroline.

“Also, the bigger shows are gate-dependent in terms of the money for the shows – to pay the fighters, to make sure everything is taken care of, for the undercard. 

“So, when you start talking about Anthony Joshua, Usyk, Dillian Whyte — yeah, the crowd is very dependent to the success of that event.

If we have to stage events behind closed doors to ensure we can provide content for our TV partners and more importantly provide fights and opportunities for our fighters, it’s something we’ll definitely look at.

With global confirmed cases now at over 142,000, Hearn also acknowledged the situation could become different swiftly, adding: “We understand that things can change at any moment. In an hour, tomorrow, next week.

“We hope a lot of the deeper stuff into the summer will be good to go. Joshua – 16 weeks; 2 May – Dillian Whyte against Povetkin; here, Usyk against Chisora — that’s 11 weeks away nearly, just over 10 weeks.

“We’re hoping, everybody’s hoping — not just for the sake of the sport and these events — that by then, we’re over the worst of it, but the truth is no one really knows.”

- Omni