Shakan Pitters out of European title fight, so Bradley Rea steps in to face Daniel Dos Santos

Bradley Rea steps in as Shakan Pitters is out of Daniel Dos Santos fight

Birmingham's Shakan Pitters was hospitalised at the start of fight week and is subsequently out of his European light-heavyweight title fight with Daniel Blenda Dos Santos (22-1, 10 KOs) this Friday, April 4, live on DAZN.

On Tuesday afternoon, April 1, GBM Sport’s Izzy Asif took to Instagram to provide an update on Pitters’ condition.

“I’ve been up all night trying to sort this out with my team, trying to get a fight over the line so the top of the bill continues,” promoter Asif said. “We’re nearly there. This is no April Fool. This is boxing promotion. Most importantly, Shakan is alright. He’s still in hospital but it’s nothing serious, nothing critical.”

The show, titled 'One Night in the Capital', must go on, so Manchester's Bradley Rea (20-1, 10 KOs) has stepped in at the last minute to challenge the champion.

The 27-year-old Brit thoroughly deserves the shot after he was left bitterly disappointed when his fight with Sweden's Constantino Nanga was cancelled, scheduled for February 22. Rea was due to fight on the undercard of Beterbiev-Bivol 2 in Saudi Arabia, but was left watching from the sidelines instead.

Rea has won six on the spin since his sole defeat to Tyler Denny for the English middleweight title in 2022.

34-year-old Dos Santos has also only lost once, and he has won his last seven bouts, three by KO.

He won the blue belt in June 2024 with a points win over Thomas Faure. The EBU 175lbs title hasn't been in the UK for two years, since Dan Azeez held it in 2023.

Rea spoke about the moment he received the call-up from Izzy Asif, "There's like a million things going on in your head. It'd be normal to go 'it's three days notice, you know, he's European champion, it's this, it's that', but at the end of the day this is a big opportunity for me.

"It's one that I'm going to grab with both hands. There was a little bit of nerves last night, maybe, then I woke up this morning and the nerves have gone and it's just pure excitement and this is where I feel like where I belong. I should be fighting for titles, I should be headlining shows. This is my time now to show that."

Undercard

Unbeaten Emma Dolan (7-0, 1 KOs), 26 from Norwich, defends her British and Commonwealth super-flyweight titles to challenger Lauren 'Lionheart' Parker (10-1-1, 2 KOs), 33 from Stevenage.

Welshman Ben Crocker (14-0, 2 KOs) defends his IBF European super-lightweight belt to Irishman Tiernan Bradley (10-0, 5 KOs) in a battle of unbeaten Celts.

Popular Galway boy, Kieran Molloy (10-0, 5 KOs) looks to extend his unbeaten record against Italian Riccardo Crepaldi (11-6, 1 KOs).

World title contender Hughie Fury (29-3, 16 KOs) continues his comeback against Dan Garber (9-4, 2 KOs) in a six-rounds heavyweight contest. Garber lasted just 142 seconds with Moses Itauma in March last year, so Hughie will be looking to make a statement against the 39-year-old, who has been stopped three times already.

All the action will be live on DAZN this Friday night, April 4.