Matchroom Confirms Aqib Fiaz-Kane Baker Pulled Due To Irregular Betting Activity; Matter Under Investigation

Aqib Fiaz will have to sit even longer on his lone career defeat.

The 24-year-old junior lightweight was named—but not directly involved—in a gambling investigation regarding his planned bout versus Kane Baker. Their bout was due to appear on Saturday’s Tyler Denny-Felix Cash DAZN undercard from Resorts World Arena in Birmingham, England.

Matchroom Boxing pulled the fight at the eleventh hour, only citing “unforeseen circumstances” at the time. The reason has now come to light.

“I was made aware of some betting irregularities on thar fight,” Matchroom chairman Eddie Hearn revealed afterward, in a video on the company’s YouTube channel. “I was given some information, I followed it up myself and with my team, the gambling commission and British Boxing Board of Control. Having spoken to a number of people, I decided to pull the fight pending a further investigation.”

The development was first reported by Boxing News+ video reporter Andi Purewal.

Asked Eddie Hearn about the cancellation of #FiazBaker2 and he said that he was made aware of betting irregularities and pulled the fight.

— Andi Purewal (@andipurewal) June 22, 2024

Fiaz (12-1, 1 knockout), 24, was due to fight for the first time since his lone career defeat. He was dropped and subsequently stopped by Reece Bellotti at the end of the eighth round last Oct. 21 in Liverpool.

A credible but made-to-order matchup was on tab versus Birmingham’s Baker (19-11-2, 1 KO). Fiaz opened at roughly -400 with some books and landed at -525 on fight day. Action appeared to be all over the place, with one bet or more causing enough concern to pull the plug.

Hearn and Fiaz both acknowledged they were made aware of the situation at the time of the fight cancellation.

“[Saturday’s] fight was cancelled due to a situation I was unaware of and had no involvement in,” Fiaz stated through his Instagram channel. “There is an ongoing investigation and I have been advised to make no comments at this time.”

Hearn was in a similar position, but provided the public with as much context as legally permitted.

“I hand it over now to the gambling commission and British Boxing Board of Control. The information I was provided with, I wasn’t happy with. We had to make a very difficult decision very close to the fight. It’s something we take very seriously.

“In 15 years of promoting boxing, I’ve never experienced that type of situation.”

The claim is not entirely true, though it is the first for Matchroom where the issue arose before a fight.

British journeyman Dave Allen and his knockout victim, Dorian Darch, were named in a similar investigation surrounding their Feb. 2020 clash in Sheffield. Allen won via third-round knockout. The prop for that outcome was bet down from -550 to -150 by fight night, according to Sky Bet. The same site had Allen at 7/2 (+350) to win in round two and 5/2 (+250) to win in the opening round.

The matter caught the attention of gambling authorities and the BBBofC given the trajectory of the fight. Allen boxed at a deliberate pace in rounds one and two before he was urged on by his corner to pick up the pace. That advice was heeded, and Darch (12-12-1, 1 KO) was dropped twice in the third round.

It marked the tenth career stoppage defeat for Wales’ Darch, who never fought again.

Neither Allen nor Darch were found of any wrongdoing by investigation’s end.

Baker has since added his own twist on the matter. He alleged his team was approached to take a dive and that the fight would otherwise not move forward.

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