All boxing licensed by the British Boxing Board of Control has been cancelled until the beginning of April.

Boxing promoters such as Eddie Hearn had initially hoped events could carry on as usual, but now the BBBoC has taken it out of their hands until the start of April, with the caveat that some events have requested to go ahead without fans.

The statement from the BBBoC read: "With regard to the statement made by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, all public tournaments under the jurisdiction of the British Boxing Board of Control are unfortunately cancelled.

"Further consideration of the matter will take place at the beginning of April. We have a number of requests for tournaments to be held behind closed doors however, the practicality and logistics will be considered fully following advice from Board Medical Officers."

It means that Matchroom's show on March 28 at The 02 headlined by Josh Kelly will no longer go ahead unless it goes ahead behind closed doors.

And other events such as the show in Newcastle on April 4 featuring Savannah Marshall and Lewis Ritson as well as the huge heavyweight clash between Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce in London on April 11 are both in serious doubt.

Meanwhile in the US, the huge super-middleweight bout between Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez and Britain's Billy Joe Saunders has been pushed back from May 2 due to the COVID-19 outbreak.