Legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly once famously declared that if rivals Everton were playing in his back garden, he'd draw the curtains!
No-one in the Eddie Hearn household will be drawing their curtains on Saturday night, when the innovative boxing promoter hosts Matchroom Fight Camp in the back garden of his Brentwood Mansion!
"I’m very nervous about it,” said Hearn. "It could be blowing a gale, there might be rain, there’s Covid positive tests to contend with and fighters potentially pulling out.
"Local residents have kicked up a fuss, we’ve had to deal with the council, there’s the health and safety aspect, but it will go down in history as something quite unique."
The curtains will definitely be twitching when Saturday night's top of the bill features Sam Eggington against Ted Cheeseman - a very intriguing match up for betting purposes.
Eggington is on a four-fight winning sequence, Cheeseman hasn't won any of his last three. But Eggington is 7/2 with thepools.com to make it five wins in a row while Cheeseman is 1/4 to end his poor run.
The reason is the quality of opposition in those runs. Cheeseman's two defeats and a draw came in two British super-welter title fights, a defeat by Scott Fitzgerald and a draw with Kieron Conway, and a European title defeat to Sergio Garcia.
Eggington, however, hasn't faced a meaningful name since former world champion Liam Smith schooled him in Liverpool last March.
It's a desperately close fight to call and there's no way Eggington should be as big as 7/2, so he's the pick for value purposes.
Top Tips
Sam Eggington 7/2. Bet here
James Tennyson 6/5 by stoppage. Bet here
Lyndon Arthur on points 15/8. Bet here
Elsewhere on the bill Dalton Smith is 1/9 to add to his record of five wins, four inside the distance against Scouser Nathan Bennett, and 5/2 to win on points , while Belfast banger James Tennyson is 6/5 to claim the British lightweight title from Gavin Gwynne inside the distance.
Tennyson hits hard, while Gwynne has just two stoppage wins on his 13 fight card, and better than double your money for the Northern Irishman to win early appeals.
BT Fight Night
On Friday night BT Sport's Lyndon Arthur is heavily odds on, 2/13 , to defend his Commonwealth light-heavyweight title against Dec Spelman who is 5/1 .
Arthur 'should' win, but that price is short for a fighter who endured some uncomfortable moments when he won the title on points from Emmanuel Anim last October.
Arthur on points is 15/8 , but he is a heavy handed fighter with 12 stoppage wins from 16 bouts and is 3/4 to win by stoppage . Spelman has been off his feet, against Scott Westgarth and Joel MacIntyre, but got up each time to hear the final bell and an Arthur points win is a good price at 15/8.
