Derek Chisora has announced that he’s ‘the face of boxing in Saudi Arabia.’
The veteran heavyweight was most recently in the ring for a one-sided stoppage loss to friend and current champion, Tyson Fury. Despite not retiring from fighting, it seems that he’s making moves in the business side of things.
Speaking to Boxing Social, he first talked up the idea of fights in Saudi Arabia – a trend that’s on the uptick.
“It’s going to do amazing numbers. If you want numbers on your chequebook, you go to Saudi. None of these European promoters or American promoters can deliver how the Saudis want to deliver. That is it.”
In a separate interview with Seconds Out he explained further, saying that his role would include promoting fights and working for Prince Khalid. He went on to highlight a partnership with Skill Challenge – a sports and entertainment agency in the Kingdom.
It appears the first event ‘Del-Boy’ will be helping to sell is Jake Paul versus Tommy Fury – undoubtedly a big money fight given the audience each man brings to the ring.
Asked by Boxing Social why he’s taken the job, Chisora said it was to get one over on the likes of Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn – two UK promoters he’s worked with in his long career.
“Basically, I just want to s**t on the cr****rs, you know? I just want to take the piss out Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn. Now, they have to come to me and ask what can they do. I’m an adopted Saudi man, so Eddie Hearn, Frank Warren… [laughter]
As Saudi continues to stake its claim as a boxing nation, there are few louder and more attention-grabbing voices that they could get onboard for that bid than Chisora.
Other than the latest Jake Paul fight, the undisputed heavyweight championship bout between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk could land there.