Match Room Confirms Aqib Fiaz-Kane Baker Pulled Due To Unusual Betting Activity; The matter is being investigated
Aqib Fiaz speaks to the media on June 20 during the final press conference before the fight in Birmingham, England. Photo Credit: Mark Robinson, Matchroom Boxing
Aqib Fiaz will have to sit on his lone career defeat for a long time.
The 24-year-old junior lightweight was named—but not directly involved—in a gambling investigation regarding his scheduled fight against Kane Baker. Their fight was supposed to be on Saturday's Tyler Denny-Felix Cash DAZN at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham, England.
Matchroom Boxing pulled the fight at the eleventh hour, citing only “unforeseen circumstances” at the time. The reason has become clear.
“I was made aware of the irregularities in the fight betting,” Matchroom chairman Eddie Hearn revealed afterwards, in a video on the company's YouTube channel. “I was given some information, I followed it with my team, the gambling commission and the British Boxing Board of Control. After speaking with a number of people, I have decided to call off the fight pending further investigation.”
The development was first reported by Boxing News+ video reporter Andi Purewal.
Fiaz (12-1, 1 knockout), 24, was scheduled to fight for the first time since his solo loss. He was dismissed and stopped by Reece Bellotti at the end of the eighth round last October 21 in Liverpool.
A reliable but made-to-order matchup was on the tab against Birmingham's Baker (19-11-2, 1 KO). Fiaz opened about 400 other books and reached 525 on the day of the fight. The action seemed to be everywhere, with one or more bets causing enough concern to pull the plug.
Hearn and Fiaz both admitted they were informed of the situation when the fight was called off.
“[Saturday’s] the fight was canceled due to a situation that I did not know and did not enter into,” said Fiaz on his Instagram channel. “There is an ongoing investigation and I have been advised not to comment at this time.”
Hearn was in a similar situation, but he gave the public as much context as legally allowed.
“I am now passing it on to the Gambling Commission and the British Boxing Board of Control. The information I was given, I was not happy with. We had to make a very difficult decision very close to the war. It's something we take very seriously.
“In the 15 years I have been promoting boxing, I have never encountered this kind of situation. We had to think on our feet and that was our decision.”
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