Dennis McCann-Ionut Baluta rematch postponed to July 27 in Joyce-Chisora undercard

The rematch between Dennis McCann and Ionut Baluta has been postponed due to TV scheduling issues.

The good news is that the contest, which will also be for the vacant European junior featherweight title, will take place just one week later and will now take place at the O2 Arena, London on the undercard of Joe Joyce-Derek Chisora on July 27.

Last August, the two met at the famed York Hall, Bethnal Green when controversy ensued and both had to settle for a ninth-round technical draw.

McCann did well early but the fight but had took a turn when the Brit was cut from a clash of heads in the seventh round and bled prefusely from the forehead.

The British based-Romanian closed strongly and was hunting the stoppage when referee Marcus McDonnell called a halt and the fight went to the scorecards. Two of the officials scored it 86-86 x2, while another voted 86-85 for McCann, rending the bout a draw.

McCann (15-0-1, 8 knockouts) won national titles at junior and youth level before making his professional bow at 18. The young southpaw worked his way up before his team let him off the leash and he impressed beating James Beach Jr. (TKO 8) and Joe Ham (TKO 8) for the vacant commonwealth title.

The 23-year-old dubbed “Menace” hit a speedbump in his draw with Baluta. However, after recovering from the cuts he added the vacant British 122-pound title to his collection by dropping and outboxing Brad Strand (UD 12).

Baluta (16-4-1, 3 KOs) boxed for Romania as an amateur before turning professional in Spain in 2016. He suffered a couple of early defeats before the upset minded fighter beat TJ Doheny (UD 8) and David Oliver Joyce (TKO 3).

The 30-year-old lost a close fight to Michael Conlan (MD 12) but rebounded to beat Brad Foster (UD 10) but then lost to Liam Davies (UD 12) for the vacant EBU title. He returned with a win over previously unbeaten Andrew Cain (SD 10) and, most recently fought McCann.

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected].

Follow @AnsonWainwright