SHABAZ Masoud will face Peter McGrail on December 6 in Monte Carlo, Monaco, promoters Matchroom have confirmed. The pair were all set to clash on June 21, but Masoud withdrew after sustaining an injury in training.
All healed and ready for action, Masoud puts his IBO super-bantamweight title on the line for the first time and will have been out of the ring for over a year by the time fight night comes around. McGrail did not let the original summer fight date go to waste by outboxing replacement Ionut Baluta over 10 rounds.
Boasting a 14-0 (4 KOs) slate, Masoud defeated local rival Liam Davies in a bad-tempered November 2024 affair. Using his smooth skills to dominate a fired-up Davies, Shabaz won by a surprising split decision to take home the fringe world strap.
McGrail is 12-1 (6 KOs) and shook off a cut in the Baluta fight to make it to this Monaco meet-up. The Liverpool boxer’s sole defeat came at the hands of Ja’Rico O’Quinn in America, 2023. McGrail was winning before suffering a shock KO. The pair were supposed to rematch, but O’Quinn pulled out for personal reasons. He has not entered a ring since.
Matchroom’s Instagram announcement also included some undercard scraps. Conah Walker is down to face Pat McCormack, GBM’s Sean McComb meets Hugo Micallef and Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira defends her IBF title against Turkish powerhouse Elif Nur Turhan.
