- Johnny Fisher scaled 243lbs and Michael Pirotton 240.6lbs ahead of their Zuffa Boxing 11 heavyweight headliner at the Copper Box Arena
- The bout is live on Sky Sports in the UK and Paramount+ in the US, first bell around 7pm UK time over 10 rounds
- It is Fisher's third appearance at this venue, the same building where Dave Allen handed him his only professional defeat
Third Time At The Copper Box, And This One Matters Most
Right then. Johnny Fisher stepped on the scales this week at 243lbs, two and a bit pounds heavier than Michael Pirotton's 240.6, and now there is nothing left to do but fight. The Romford heavyweight is back at the Copper Box Arena for the third time in his career, and make no mistake, this is the venue with history attached. It is the same building where Dave Allen stopped him in their rematch, the one blemish on an otherwise unbeaten résumé, and Fisher will know exactly what walking back in there means.
He has put that defeat behind him the only way that actually counts — inside the ropes. A four-round knockout of Ivan Balaz got him back on track, and since then he has signed with Dana White's Zuffa Boxing, a move he has not been quiet about. "The most exciting chapter of my professional career begins," Fisher said when the deal was announced. "Everything has led to this point. Bull Army, get ready to assemble." That is a proper statement of intent, and now he has to back it up in front of the same London crowd that watched him lose here before.
Who Is Michael Pirotton, And Why This Is Not A Gimme
Pirotton is the Belgian heavyweight standing across the ring, and coming in just under two and a half pounds lighter than Fisher tells you he has not skipped a single session getting ready for this. He is stepping into a proper hostile atmosphere on enemy soil, headlining duties that Fisher has done twice before and Pirotton is doing for the first time on this stage. Let's not beat around the bush, that kind of pressure test tells you plenty about a fighter's temperament long before the first bell.
What Pirotton lacks in name recognition over here, he will look to make up for with the one thing every awkward European heavyweight brings to English arenas: a willingness to make it messy. Fisher has to be sharp early, cut the ring down, and not let this turn into the kind of grinding, untidy fight that gives an underdog hope deep into the second half.
Zuffa Boxing 11 And What A Win Actually Buys Fisher
This card, live on Sky Sports in the UK and Paramount+ in the US from around 7pm UK time over ten rounds, is Fisher's first outing since putting pen to paper with Zuffa. Dana White's operation does not sign heavyweights to sit them in six-round mismatches, and a clean, statement win here puts Fisher straight into conversations he has already started himself — Dillian Whyte, Richard Riakporhe, names he has name-checked in the past fortnight. None of that happens without getting through Pirotton first.
The Verdict
I like Fisher here, and I like him more than the bookies probably will after that Allen result still lingers in people's memory. He has made the weight properly, he has the crowd, and he has the extra motivation of erasing a bad night in the same building. Proper heavyweight, proper occasion, and I am going with Fisher to stop Pirotton somewhere in the second half once the Belgian's engine starts to fade under that Bull Army pressure. If you know boxing, you know record and reputation mean nothing once that bell goes — but on the numbers and the narrative, this is Fisher's night to take.