The Golden Contract is a professional boxing tournament created by boxing management and promotions company MTK Global. The tournament is held across three weight-classes with eight fighters in each class, competing in 10 x 3 minute rounds. The winners of each tournament secure a two-year, five-fight contract with MTK Global that guarantees a six-figure purse for each fight.[1] The tournament is televised live on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom[2] and streamed through ESPN+ in the United States.[3]
2019/2020 edit
The Golden Contract's inaugural tournament is being contested across the featherweight, super-lightweight and light-heavyweight divisions.
Featherweight edit
Competitors in the featherweight edition are; Britain's Ryan Walsh, Leigh Wood, Jazza Dickens and Tyrone McCullagh; Ireland's David Oliver Joyce; Mexico's Carlos Araujo; Spain's Carlos Ramos; and Hairon Socarras of Cuba. With Britain's Razaq Najib and Jacob Robinson in reserve.[4] The quarter-final bouts took place on 4 October 2019 at the York Hall, London,[5] and the semi-finals on 21 February 2020 at the same venue.[6] The final was originally set to take place in June, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the date was pushed back to 30 September.[7]
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
 Ryan Walsh | TKO 8 | |||||||||
 Hairon Socarras | ||||||||||
| Ryan Walsh | UD | |||||||||
| Tyrone Mccullagh | ||||||||||
| Tyrone McCullagh | UD | |||||||||
| Razaq Najib n1 | ||||||||||
| Ryan Walsh | – | |||||||||
| Jazza Dickens | UD | |||||||||
| Leigh Wood | TKO 9 | |||||||||
 David Oliver Joyce | ||||||||||
| Leigh Wood | ||||||||||
| Jazza Dickens | MD | |||||||||
| Jazza Dickens | UD | |||||||||
 Carlos Ramos | ||||||||||
^Note 1 Araujo failed to make weight; Najib brought in as replacement
Super-lightweight edit
Competitors in the super-lightweight edition are; Britain's Tyrone McKenna, Ohara Davies, Jeff Ofori, Darren Surtees, Kieran Gething and Mikey Sakyi; America's Logan Yoon; and France's Mohamed Mimoune.[8] The quarter-final bouts took place on 22 November 2019 at the York Hall, London,[9] and the semi-finals on 21 February 2020.[6] The final was originally set to take place in June, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the date was pushed back to 30 September.[7]
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| Ohara Davies | RTD 7 | |||||||||
 Logan Yoon | ||||||||||
| Ohara Davies | TKO | |||||||||
| Jeff Ofori | ||||||||||
| Kieran Gething | ||||||||||
| Jeff Ofori n1 | Draw | |||||||||
| Ohara Davies | MD | |||||||||
| Tyrone McKenna | – | |||||||||
| Tyrone McKenna | UD | |||||||||
| Mikey Sakyi | ||||||||||
| Tyrone McKenna | UD | |||||||||
 Mohamed Mimoune | ||||||||||
| Mohamed Mimoune | TKO 5 | |||||||||
| Darren Surtees | ||||||||||
^Note 1 Ofori replaced Lewis Benson due to injury [10]
Light-heavyweight edit
Competitors in the light-heavyweight edition are; Britain's Hosea Burton, Steven Ward, Liam Conroy, Tommy Philbin, Andre Sterling and Bob Ajisafe; Germany's Serge Michel; and Latvia's Ričards Bolotņiks.[11] The quarter-final bouts took place on 14 December 2019 at the Brentwood Centre, Brentwood.[11] The semi-finals were originally scheduled to take place on 20 March 2020 at the York Hall in London,[12] however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the event was rescheduled to take place in September, being split over two nights; the first bout, featuring Bolotniks, took place in Bolotniks' hometown of Rīga, Latvia, on 26 September; the second bout will take place on the same card as the featherweight and super-lightweight finals on 30 September at the York Hall in London.[13][14]
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| Bob Ajisafe | – | |||||||||
| Hosea Burton | UD | |||||||||
| Hosea Burton | – | |||||||||
 Ričards Bolotņiks | UD | |||||||||
| Steven Ward | – | |||||||||
| Ričards Bolotņiks | TKO | |||||||||
| Ričards Bolotņiks | TKO | |||||||||
 Serge Michel | – | |||||||||
| Andre Sterling | – | |||||||||
| Liam Conroy | UD | |||||||||
| Liam Conroy | – | |||||||||
| Serge Michel | TKO | |||||||||
| Tommy Philbin | – | |||||||||
| Serge Michel | UD | |||||||||
References edit
- ^ "WORLD-LEVEL TOURNAMENTS UNVEILED". MTK Global. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
- ^ "The Golden Contract tournament will be shown live on Sky Sports". Sky Sports. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
- ^ "Golden Contract tournament on ESPN+: How to watch". ESPN.com. 3 October 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
- ^ "What's the Golden Contract tournament, and who's in it?". ESPN.com. 30 September 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
- ^ "Golden Contract: Quarter-final draw explained ahead of next Friday's featherweight competition". Sky Sports. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
- ^ a b Christ, Scott (21 February 2020). "MTK Golden Contract results: Ryan Walsh-Jazza Dickens, Ohara Davies-Tyrone McKenna set for tournament finals". Bad Left Hook. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
- ^ a b "Golden Contract finals: Ohara Davies takes on Tyrone McKenna and Ryan Walsh faces Jazza Dickens on September 30". Sky Sports. 17 August 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
- ^ "What's the Golden Contract super lightweight tournament, and who's in it?". ESPN.com. 21 November 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
- ^ "The Golden Contract: The lowdown on tonight's super-lightweight quarter-finals". Sky Sports. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
- ^ "OFORI JOINS GOLDEN CONTRACT PARTY". MTK Global. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
- ^ a b "The Golden Contract: Hosea Burton to fight Bob Ajisafe in light-heavyweight quarter-finals". Sky Sports. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
- ^ "The Golden Contract semi-finals confirmed on March 20". Sky Sports. 3 March 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
- ^ "The Golden Contract postponed". Sky Sports. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
- ^ "Golden Contract 175 Semi-Finals on September 26 & 30". Boxing Scene. 18 August 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.