{"id":535770,"date":"2026-04-17T10:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T10:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/535770\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T10:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T10:14:09","slug":"eddie-hearn-wants-smith-morrell-fight-rescheduled-in-liverpool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/535770\/","title":{"rendered":"Eddie Hearn Wants Smith\u2013Morrell Fight Rescheduled In Liverpool"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxingnews24.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add EBoxing News 24as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqLAgKIiZDQklTRmdnTWFoSUtFR0p2ZUdsdVoyNWxkM015TkM1amIyMG9BQVAB?ceid=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow Boxing News 24 on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>The fight was pulled after Smith suffered an injury that ruled out a quick turnaround, forcing changes to an event that had already been built around that matchup.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was something that was pretty bad. There was no way back. It\u2019s not something that\u2019s fixable in three or four weeks,\u201d Hearn said.<\/p>\n<p>That left the promotion with a decision to make. Rather than cancel the show, Matchroom moved forward, reshuffling the card despite losing one of its strongest fights.<\/p>\n<p>My math shows we have hit 270 days since this whole process began with the Smith vs. Morrell fight being ordered by the WBO on July 21, 2025. That is nearly nine months of waiting, only to have the rug pulled out right at the end.<\/p>\n<p>The WBO is already tightening the screws on Callum Smith. They have moved quickly to ensure David Morrell isn\u2019t left in limbo for another nine months.<\/p>\n<p>The WBO issued a formal notice following the cancellation, giving Smith\u2019s team exactly 10 days to submit a certified medical report. They need a specific diagnosis, a clinical prognosis, and a definitive return-to-training date.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve got to suck it up, take the hit financially and go,\u201d Hearn said. \u201cEverybody knew what a great fight Smith-Morrell was, and you\u2019re incredibly deflated in that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the original bout off, the focus now shifts to timing. Hearn said the intention is to revisit the matchup once Smith is fully recovered, with Liverpool still the target location.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019d like to do it back here in Liverpool,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>No date has been set for the rescheduled fight, and no alternative plans have been outlined for Morrell while Smith recovers.<\/p>\n<p>The WBO\u2019s priority is terminating the interim status so the winner can face the Bivol-Eifert winner. If Smith\u2019s injury is as bad as Hearn suggested, the WBO will likely pull the trigger on stripping him by the start of summer to keep the division moving.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"182\" data-end=\"497\">Dan Ambrose is a boxing journalist at Boxing News 24, recognized for his direct analysis and extensive coverage of the global fight landscape. His reporting focuses on major bouts, divisional developments, and the sport\u2019s most discussed storylines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fight was pulled after Smith suffered an injury that ruled out a quick turnaround, forcing changes to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-535770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}