Masoud injured, McGrail vs Baluta set for June 21

Ionut Baluta will take on yet another rising Brit on short notice later this month

Matchroom announced today that their very intriguing June 21st main event between Shabaz Masoud and Peter McGrail is off after Masoud “sustained an injury in training.” Romanian spoiler Ionut Baluta will step in on just over two weeks’ notice, while the interim flyweight title fight between Galal Yafai and Francisco Rodriguez Jr takes over as the chief attraction.

Baluta (17-5-1, 3 KO) has carved a niche for himself as a Professional Headache since upsetting TJ Doheny in 2020, giving domestic European talent everything they can handle and occasionall something they can’t. He’s far from a gimme for McGrail (11-1, 6 KO), who infamously suffered a one-punch knockout loss to Ja’Rico O’Quinn in 2023 and had his hands full against another late replacement in Rhys Edwards last time out.

It’s a good scrap, is what I’m saying, definitely everything you could ask for on such short notice.