Xu Can (red) is in the game.

Chinanews.com Client, Beijing, March 28 (Wang Hao) Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, a large number of events around the world have been postponed, and the formerly bustling stadium has fallen into a temporary silence. However, in the field of professional boxing in China, many people are restless for a game that has not yet been settled on--the only featherweight united battle of China's only active world champion Xu Can.

What is Featherweight United?

The professional boxing field is mainly divided into four major boxing organizations: WBA (World Boxing Association), WBO (World Boxing Organization), WBC (World Boxing Council) and IBF (International Boxing Federation).

At the same level, every boxing organization can have its own champion. For example, featherweight, WBC champion is Gary Russell, WBA champion is Xu Can, IBF champion is Warrington, and WBO champion is Stevenson.

Among them, some boxers are powerful, and they can hold the title of boxing champion of multiple boxing organizations at the same time. The unified boxing war is an important way to become the champion of multiple organizations.

Xu Can celebrates victory.

The unified boxing war refers to the competition between boxing champions of different boxing organizations. The winner can take the title of boxer of the loser and become the champion of boxing across two or more boxing organizations.

On March 23 local time, the promoters of Warrington announced that the featherweight united war between Xu Can and Warrington will be held in Leeds, England this summer.

The winner of the final game will not only win the two gold belts of WBA Super Boxer and IBF World Boxer, but also get the Featherweight Magazine featherweight gold belt, which is a very high honor in the professional boxing field.

Xu Can Weibo screenshot.

This game will be the third featherweight united battle since the new century. In the past 20 years, there have been many featherweight stars, but because of the love of feathers and price differences, there are not many united wars.

Strictly speaking, only Marquez and Gamboa have won the "featherweight united war" in the past 20 years. If Xu Can wins, he will not only become China's first "double crown", but also occupy a very important position in the world featherweight history.

Why is Xu Can "anxious" to fight the united war?

In fact, Xu Can's featherweight united battle was beyond many people's expectations, because from the perspective of Xu Can's previous game experience, it seemed a bit "anxious" to conduct a unified battle at this time.

In January 2019, Xu Can won the WBA Featherweight World Boxer Challenge in the United States, becoming the first Chinese boxer to win the WBA World Boxer Gold Belt.

Xu Can (red) is in the game.

In May of the same year, he defeated Japanese challenger Kubo Hiroshi in the sixth round of the first defending battle and successfully defended his title. In November, Xu Can fought away. After 12 rounds of bitter battle, he defeated American boxer Robles with points and defended the title again.

In early March of this year, the WBA officially announced that Xu Can must fight for the third time by May 25 and accept a mandatory challenge from a designated opponent. Before that, Xu Can had time to defend his freedom. Freedom defends itself by choosing one of the top 15 boxers in the WBA to challenge yourself. Generally speaking, it is relatively difficult to defend freely.

But why did Xu Can directly "advance" to the United Front? According to media reports, Xu Can's team originally had the intention to run the game in first-tier cities in China, but due to the impact of the epidemic, it could not be further promoted. Before the competition, there needs to be a period of investment of about 3 months. If the epidemic situation ends and then the organization is started, it will be too late.

Xu Can is in training.

Xu Can's team had hoped that he would go to the United States to play a free defending first. However, the epidemic in the United States was gradually serious, and many matches were cancelled.

As early as January of this year, Warrington's team and Xu Can's team had discussed the possibility of a united war. At that time, Xu Can considered the business plan and considered it too early to continue the talks. But in March, the situation changed, and the issue of united war was brought up again.

In addition to these objective reasons, Xu Can himself is more eager to compete with Warrington. In an interview with the media, he said: "The kind of game (free defending) is of little significance. I'm not bad for this game. Well, it's better to play games worth playing."

Warrington (Ash) is in the game.

What is the prospect of Xu Can in the United Front?

For Xu Can, this should be a difficult game in his career. The British Warrington currently maintains a perfect record of 30 wins, including 7 KO opponents. In the rankings of Boxing Magazine and Boxing Archives, Warrington is ranked first in featherweight. .

In the third defending battle last year, Warrington KO opponents in just 2 rounds. After the game, he shouted to Xu Can, hoping to have a WBA-IBF united war with the latter.

After Xu Can defended his title for the second time in California, when the host asked who he wanted to fight the most, Xu Can blurted out: "Wellington, since you're asking me, let's fight."

Warrington (Ash) is in the game.

At present, the promoters of Warrington have announced that this united war will be held in Leeds, England this summer, and Leeds is the home of Warrington. The away battle will undoubtedly increase the difficulty for Xu Can. He will not only face thousands of home spectators, but also many unknown factors.

Earlier, Xu Can held his second defending battle in California, where his opponent was Roberts. Four hours before the game ’s weighing ceremony, Xu Can ’s promoter Liu Gang found that the referees for the game were all assigned by the California Sports Commission.

After repeated struggles, the three referee places were finally coordinated and replaced by the WBA official designation. It is foreseeable that this time going to Leeds for a united war, the difficulty will not be small.

Xu Can (red) is in the game.

However, from a competitive point of view, this united battle should be very exciting, because both fighters are "out of boxing madness", the game style is very tough.

Among them, Xu Can made 1562 punches in 12 rounds in the second defending battle, setting a world record for punches of this level. He also has a clear understanding of Warrington's style: "We are a bit like, the KO rate is not high, and we like to punch more."

Affected by the epidemic, the exact time of this match has not yet been determined. In the last defending battle, Xu Can brought the golden belt from the United States back to China. Can he bring the three belts back together this time? let us wait and see. (Finish)