Stevenson, Conlan MSG Cards To Be Closed-Door Events

It was only a matter of time before boxing in the United States felt the wrath of the coronavirus.

According to Lance Pugmire of The Athletic, both Shakur Stevenson’s fight against Miguel Marriaga on Saturday, March 14 and Michael Conlan’s bout against Belmar Preciado on Tuesday, March 17 will be closed off to fans. Top Rank’s Bob Arum announced that all of the fights are still on. Both fight cards will be taking place inside Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater.

Just told by @BobArum that the @ShakurStevenson fight card Saturday night @HuluTheaterMSG “goes on without the public.”

— Lance Pugmire (@pugboxing) March 12, 2020

Arum adds that the St. Patrick’s Day card with @mickconlan11 at @HuluTheaterMSG will also be fought without fans. Quite a departure from Conlan’s sold-out debut threee years ago when @TheNotoriousMMA declared himself “the boxing guy.”

— Lance Pugmire (@pugboxing) March 12, 2020

This adds onto a busy day of sports rescheduling, cancelling or altering events altogether as a result of the coronavirus. Earlier this morning, ONE Championship announced all major events until the end of May will be closed off to fans. Media day and weigh-ins for UFC Brasilia this weekend is cancelled, while the event taking place on Saturday inside the Nilson Nelson Gymnasium will be closed to fans.

This will be Conlan’s fourth fight inside the Hulu Theater on St. Patrick’s Day, his first without fans inside. He ended up beating Ruben Hernandez via unanimous decision back in 2019. Since then he has gone 2-0, his last time out being inside the main Garden, beating Olympic nemesis Vladimir Nikitin via unanimous decision. Preciado (20-2-1) is on a two-fight win streak, last beating Jose de Jesus Lopez via KO in December.

Stevenson (13-0) won the vacant WBO belt against Joet Gonzalez via unanimous decision back in October. He became the first male fighter from the 2016 Olympics to win a world title. He fights knockout artist Marriaga (29-3), with 25 via KO. Marriaga is currently on a four-fight win streak, last beating Alfredo Mejia Vargas via KO in December.

An update from Top Rank regarding March 14 and March 17 events at @HuluTheaterMSG: pic.twitter.com/PLYWIQMmKF

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) March 12, 2020

More events are expected to be impacted by the coronavirus. According to the latest from CNN, over 124,000 cases of the virus have been confirmed with over 4,607 deaths.