Johnny Fisher to face Michael Pirotton in Zuffa debut at Copper Box

Johnny Fisher will make his Zuffa Boxing debut against Belgium’s Michael Pirotton at the Copper Box Arena on September 26. The 10-round heavyweight main event will be shown live on Sky Sports and marks Fisher’s third headline appearance at the east London venue.

Fisher, 14-1 with 12 knockouts, signed with Zuffa last month after leaving Matchroom and had already been confirmed to top Zuffa Boxing 11 before his opponent was finalised. Pirotton, 12-2 with six stoppages, now steps into the headline slot for his first fight in England, giving Fisher a defined route back after a turbulent run of results and promotional change.

The Copper Box has become central to Fisher’s career and his following. His supporters, the “Bull Army”, dubbed it the “Copper Bosh” after his first-round knockout of Alen Babic in July 2024, but it was also the venue for his first professional defeat, when Dave Allen stopped him in the fifth round of their rematch after Fisher had won a disputed split decision over Allen in Riyadh five months earlier.

Fisher returned in December with a fourth-round stoppage of Ivan Balaz in Monte Carlo, though not without difficulty. Several hooks appeared to badly hurt Fisher and send him to the canvas, but no knockdown was called, and he recovered to drop Balaz three times before the finish. The Pirotton fight is his first since then and the first under a new promotional structure.

“I can’t wait to be back at the Copper Bosh on September 26 and bring another huge night of boxing to London,” Fisher said. “Bull Army, get ready. because it’s going to be a fantastic show. Pirotton is an experienced, powerful heavyweight who can’t be taken lightly.”

Speaking to Sky Sports, Fisher added: “I’m excited, but I’m also driven and determined. The next fight is always the hardest fight, and everyone I fight is a dangerous opponent because they’re getting onto this show with Sky Sports, Zufa, with the Romford Bull Army there. It’s a golden ticket for Michael Pirotton, but it’s also my golden ticket because if I win, I get to go on to bigger and better things. I’ve got ambitions in this game.”

Pirotton has never been dropped in his 14-fight career and arrives after a third-round stoppage of Jiovani Sheik on August 2. The 30-year-old Liege heavyweight, a professional since 2019, won his first 10 fights, later lost on points in the WBC Grand Prix of Boxing round of 32, and has spent most of his career boxing in Belgium and the United States. “I have been working towards an opportunity like this my entire career, and the time has come,” Pirotton said. “I know it’s going to be a massive crowd of Johnny Fisher fans, but I’ll be ready. Respect to Johnny and the Romford Bull Army, but he’s in for a tough night.”

Fisher has made clear he wants a conclusive performance against an opponent whose durability is part of the selling point. “You want to get the knockout, you want to get the stoppage, but I’ve always said from the beginning of my career, I’ve got to win by whatever cost – the win is the most important thing.” he said. “But with my power, my strength, my explosivity, of course I can draw a knockout or draw a stoppage. Once I get someone hurt, I know I can finish them. I can smell when someone’s feeling it or in trouble.”

The Zuffa move followed the expiry of Fisher’s Matchroom deal and came amid a changing market for British fighters. Eddie Hearn said he could not match the money on offer from Zuffa, telling IFLTV in June: “It’s over six times what I would pay [Fisher to fight] that opponent. If Zuffa offered half the money [they offered Fisher] we wouldn’t have matched it. Good luck, mate, go and sign it. I’m actually pleased for Johnny.” Fisher had also said the financial terms were “six or seven times” higher than what Matchroom had offered for comparable fights.

Before the Zuffa deal, Fisher said there had been discussions over a far bigger heavyweight assignment against Deontay Wilder. “There was talks, a couple of weeks before my contract was up,” he told talkSPORT. “Eddie [Hearn] FaceTimed me with Turki Alalshikh and he said, ‘Wilder, Istanbul, end of August?’ So I was like, ‘yeah, no problem.’ They made me a few offers with different things, they were trying to get fights to happen and, for whatever reason, they weren’t materialising.” Fisher added: “At one point it was going to be Wilder — of course I was up for that. That didn’t happen because of the politics of boxing.”

Fisher-Pirotton tops a Copper Box bill that also includes Craig Richards against Radivoje “Hot Rod” Kalajdzic in a 10-round light heavyweight co-main event, and Lee Cutler against Louis Greene over 10 rounds at middleweight. Welterweight Alex MacMillan and light heavyweight Leon Hughes are scheduled for separate six-rounders, while lightweights Kayla Allen and Fred Pullen are set to make their professional debuts.

Zuffa now has Fisher’s first opponent in place and a familiar London venue to build around. For Fisher, September 26 is the start of a new promotional run, with victory needed before Zuffa can decide whether to move him back towards domestic heavyweight business or pursue the higher-profile fights that were discussed during his final weeks with Matchroom.