The developing coronavirus crisis has had its impact felt on the sporting landscape once again as it was announced on Monday that the upcoming world title bout between undisputed lightweight champion Katie Taylor and seven-weight champion Amanda Serrano is off. 

The bout, which was originally scheduled for May 2 in the Manchester Arena, was formally cancelled after the British Boxing Board of Control extended its suspension of boxing to the end of May, with promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed as much with TalkSport.

“We will make an official announcement today but basically, yes [the event is off],” Hearn said. “Every sport is looking at their calendar but nobody knows when [it will resume].

“We all hope we can return to some kind of boxing in June, whether that is behind closed doors at first, whether that is back in small hall shows, and then we hope we can get to the bigger stuff by the end of June, early July,” he added. “But we are completely guessing. We have looked at alternative dates for everything without knowing anything concrete.”

A high profile heavyweight fight between Dillian Whyte and Alexander Povetkin scheduled for the undercard will now also be postponed.

However, the fight between Taylor and the fighter presumed to be her biggest test to date, Serrano, was the real showpiece fight on the card and evidence of the surging growth in popularity that women’s boxing has undertaken since Taylor emerged from her outstanding amateur career to the professional ranks.

There is as of yet little indication as to when the fight may be rescheduled but one expects that any decision to do so will only be made when there is further clarity as to the possibility of doing so given the current global health crisis.