Dillian Whyte vs. Christian Hammer: Date, time, and everything else about the heavyweight's return after being cleared of drug test wrongdoing
Dillian Whyte is set to make a comeback after investigations confirmed that contaminated supplements caused his positive drug test, which forced him to pull out of his scheduled fight against Anthony Joshua in August 2023.
Whyte is set to take on Romanian-German boxer Christian Hammer in his comeback fight. Hammer is a former three-time WBO European heavyweight champion. He holds a 27-10 professional boxing record. The 36-year-old has shared the ring with the likes of Tyson Fury, Alexander Povetkin and Luis Ortiz in the past.
Meanwhile, Whyte is the former WBC interim heavyweight champion. He defeated Jermaine Franklin via majority decision in his most recent outing. Before that, Whyte lost to WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury by sixth-round TKO.
Dillian Whyte vs. Christian Hammer: Date, start time, venue and full card
Dillian Whyte vs. Christian Hammer will headline the 'Once Upon a Time in the West' boxing event scheduled for St. Patrick's Day, Mar. 17. It will take place at the TF Royal Hotel and Theatre in Castlebar, Ireland.
The main event fight has been sanctioned by the Boxing Union of Ireland (BUI) and Michael Ofo's Platform Sports will promote the event.
The event will start at 5:30 PM GMT / 10:30 AM PT / 1:30 PM ET. The main event fighters are expected to walk out at 9 PM GMT / 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET. At the time of this publishing, the broadcaster / TV channel for the event has not been announced.
Apart from Whyte vs. Hammer, the event will feature several interesting matchups. Former European gold medalist and Castlebar native Ray Moylette will step inside the boxing ring one last time on Mar. 17 as he takes on Jake Tinklin. The event will feature several promising boxers like Spike O'Sullivan and Thomas Carty.
The 'Once Upon a Time in the West' event will feature seven professional boxing matches. Here is the full card line-up (subject to change):
Heavyweight - Dillian Whyte vs. Christian Hammer (Main event)
Super lightweight - Ray Moylette vs. Jake Tinklin
Middleweight - Gary O'Sullivan vs. TBA
Heavyweight - Thomas Carty vs. Pavel Sour
Light middleweight - Daniel O'Sullivan vs. Martin Balog
Light middleweight - Sedem Ama vs. Ester Knecna
Middleweight - Craig O'Brien vs. Remi Scholer