Vitality Stadium, home of Premier League football club AFC Bournemouth, has been announced as the host venue for Boxxer’s first-ever UK stadium show on May 27.
The event will be headlined by Bournemouth fan Chris Billam-Smith, with his opponent to be revealed at a press conference next week. Billam-Smith is the current Commonwealth and European cruiserweight champion.
The card will also feature Mikael Lawal making the first defence of his British Cruiserweight Championship against Isaac Chamberlain. It will mark the first-ever boxing event at Vitality Stadium.
Billam-Smith said: “I think it will be an amazing event and an amazing show. To become number one in my division by winning at my team’s ground would be a dream. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. There’s been a lot of special moments there and hopefully I can create another one.”
UK-based Boxxer will also host an event at Birmingham’s Resorts World Arena on May 6, while OVO Arena Wembley in London will stage an event on June 10.
Ben Shalom, founder and chief executive of Boxxer, added: “We are excited to announce phase one of what is a huge schedule coming up for Boxxer and Sky Sports.
“It’s amazing to see new headliners get to the top, new marquee signings start with us and the return of fighters from injury. It really is going to be a groundbreaking few months with career-defining fights and huge nights.
“A special thanks to Joe Ashford-Ellis (owner and founder of investment company K4 Global) and AFC Bournemouth for making everything possible for us to stage our first-ever UK stadium show – and a first for the Premier League club too.”
With a capacity of 11,364, Vitality Stadium is comfortably the smallest ground in the Premier League.
In December, US businessman Bill Foley, who owns the Vegas Golden Knights NHL team, completed his purchase of Bournemouth. Prior to completing the takeover, Foley detailed plans to expand the capacity of Vitality Stadium. The stadium is set to have a capacity of 15,000 for the Boxxer event.
