Barrow’s Liam Conroy is hoping a decision is made sooner rather than later as to whether the light heavyweight semi-finals of the Golden Contract, of which he is a part of, will definitely be going ahead.

Conroy has been able to prepare as normal ahead of the event at York Hall in London, but every eventuality is currently possible, including the show being postponed or even taking place behind closed doors, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The outbreak has already had a devastating impact on the sporting landscape, with football seasons being suspended, the England cricket team’s tour of Sri Lanka being cancelled and the London Marathon being put back until October.

At amateur level, the Olympic boxing qualifying event has continued behind closed doors at London’s Copper Box Arena, but it isn’t clear yet whether that will also be the case when Conroy steps into the ring across the city on Friday.

Conroy said: “People keep asking me whether the show is going to be on, but as far as the promoters are concerned, unless the government come out with something that says they can’t, then it’s on, so I’ve just got to stay focused and prepare myself as if it’s on.

“It would be a bit weird if it did end up in front of an empty arena, but hopefully they make a decision sooner or later.

“The promoters want to put it on no matter what, so we’ll just have to see.”

Conroy made the long journey from Barrow down to London yesterday evening and will find out who he faces out of Hosea Burton, Serge Michel or Ricards Bolotniks in the semi-finals when the draw is made later today.

The 27-year-old reached this stage by defeating Andre Sterling on points in the quarter finals and is now potentially two fights away from earning a two-year, five-fight contract with promoters MTK Global that guarantees a six-figure purse.

Conroy has fond memories of boxing at York Hall, such an iconic venue for the sport in England, as it was there where he defeated Joel McIntyre to win the vacant English light heavyweight title in September 2017.

He is now hoping he can make full use of the extra time off employers BAE Systems have afforded him in the build-up to the bout with Preston-based trainer Johnney Roye.

Conroy said: “I’ve not been doing too much more in the gym, but it’s given me the opportunity to do the little things in between, like make sure that I’m resting properly.

“I’ve been really vigilant with how much sleep that I’m getting, I’ve been doing cryotherapy after training and being available in the daytime to do my training has given me more options with sparring partners.

“Most of the people I need to be sparring with at this level are full-time, so it’s given me some quality sparring.”