The all-British clash between unbeaten light heavyweights Joshua Buatsi and Dan Azeez has been postponed after Azeez suffered an injury in his final training session.

The friends-turned-rivals were set to meet this Saturday October 21 in a hugely anticipated bout at The O2 with London bragging rights and a shot at world honours on the line, but doctors have ruled Azeez unable to compete due to a back injury.

Promoter Boxxer said that “further details on Saturday’s event, including ticket information, and a revised date for Buatsi-Azeez will be communicated shortly. All tickets will automatically remain valid for the rescheduled main event and a full refund will be made available for anyone not able to attend.”

“I’m devastated for this to happen on fight week,” said Azeez.  “It still hasn’t sunk in. I’ve never had to withdraw from a fight in my career before. I want to apologise to all the fans, especially those travelling to the fight. I am also extremely sorry to my opponent Joshua Buatsi, to my promoter and to everyone involved who has worked so hard on this date. I hope this fight can be rescheduled as soon as possible.”

Boxxer founder and CEO Ben Shalom said, “This is a big shock but everyone at Boxxer is working very hard to ensure we provide clarity for all fighters, teams and most importantly the fans as soon as we can.

“I know that Dan would do anything to be in the ring on Saturday night and for this to happen at this stage is devastating. This is a huge fight for British Boxing, but the health and safety of our fighters must come first. My heart goes out to Dan and Joshua, who have both completed tough camps, and to the fans, with more than 10,000 having made arrangements to come on Saturday.

“We will provide an update on the rest of the card and communicate a revised date for Buatsi-Azeez as soon as possible.”

A press release by Boxxer was used in this article.