Josh Warrington vs Mauricio Lara and Josh Kelly vs David Avanesyan confirmed for The SSE Arena, Wembley on February 13 and February 20 respectively; both events are live on Sky Sports; Matchroom previously held Anthony Joshua's KO win against Kubrat Pulev at the venue
Friday 29 January 2021 18:04, UK
Matchroom Boxing will return to The SSE Arena, Wembley, for Josh Warrington vs Mauricio Lara on Saturday February 13 and David Avanesyan vs Josh Kelly on Saturday February 20, both live on Sky Sports.
Matchroom's first two events of 2021 kick off a stacked schedule that also features the highly anticipated heavyweight rematch between Alexander Povetkin and Dillian Whyte on Saturday, March 6, live on Sky Sports Box Office, Lawrence Okolie's shot at the WBO cruiserweight crown against Krzysztof Glowacki on Saturday, March 20, and rising welterweight star Conor Benn vs Samuel Vargas on Saturday, April 10.
The SSE Arena had staged an exciting line-up of events in October, November and December last year, featuring bill-topping fights for Oleksander Usyk, Katie Taylor, Benn and Billy Joe Saunders, before Anthony Joshua's explosive knockout win over Kubrat Pulev in front of 1,000 fans.
This year's shows begin with a bang on February 13 as Warrington faces Mexico's Lara while he waits for a huge fight later in the year.
Manchester super-featherweight contender Zelfa Barrett defends his IBF intercontinental title against Spain's former super-bantamweight world champion Kiko Martinez in the chief support bout.
Nottingham's Leigh Wood clashes with unbeaten Doncaster man Reece Mould for the vacant British featherweight title.
Fast-rising Sheffield super-lightweight talent Dalton Smith features, Leeds featherweight Hopey Price meets Zahid Hussain and Keighley featherweight Ibrahim Nadim steps up against Jonny Phillips.
Russia's European welterweight champion Avanesyan makes his long-awaited title defence against Kelly at the top of the bill on February 20.
Liverpool super-welterweight Anthony Fowler returns against Spain's Jorge Fortea and undefeated welterweights Florian Marku and Rylan Charlton meet in what promises to be an explosive 10-round battle.
Amy Timlin and Carly Skelly rematch for the vacant Commonwealth super-bantamweight title after their split draw on the Oleksandr Usyk vs Derek Chisora undercard last October and explosive Romford heavyweight Johnny Fisher makes his highly anticipated professional debut.
