After laying down the foundations during the final quarter of 2023, this year we have seen Turki Al-Alshikh grab the reins of boxing and steer its biggest events towards the Middle East. However, despite both the quality and quantity of shows in Saudi Arabia, the atmosphere at each fight night has been questioned. Now, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn has responded to those critics.
Within the last three weeks, Riyadh has played host to a legendary, historic battle to crown a first undisputed four-belt heavyweight champion and then brought two of boxing’s biggest rivals together as Hearn and Frank Warren took part in a ‘five versus five’ promotional showdown that saw a plethora of 50/50 bouts – although the card ended up being dominated by one team.
During the aftermath, Carl Froch gave credit to the strength of the bills but labelled the atmosphere in the Saudi capital as ‘f***ing shocking’. Speaking to Boxing Social, Eddie Hearn responded to The Cobra’s comments.
“I don’t get it [the criticism]. You have to understand that we are not going to have British atmosphere everywhere. This is Britain, it is not America, it is not Saudi Arabia. In America, the atmosphere is not as good as it is in Britain.
“In Saudi Arabia, the atmosphere for Fury-Usyk was amazing and by the way the atmosphere for the five versus five was really good. Was it Josh Taylor against Jack Catterall with 11,000 people on the beers that are having a singsong? No.
“Some people don’t like to talk about the alcohol and that sort of stuff. For me, I find the fight nights in Saudi to be really enjoyable, it is a different kind of atmosphere, people aren’t drinking five, six, seven eight pints but they are still enjoying themselves and they are still having a singsong.
“You are bringing boxing to a territory that is still understanding the sport and the more that they understand it the more passionate they are going to get, the more knowledgeable they are going to get. The more knowledgeable that they get, the more opinionated they are going to get. The more passionate that they get, the louder they are going to get.
“It’s not like the atmosphere is poor, it’s just not the same atmosphere as it is in England. So what? Rather than that, we should be saying how good it is at the moment [to be] boxing in Saudi. You are getting every fight that you want to happen to happen in Saudi, every couple of weeks there is a massive show and the cards are unbelievable.
“It is lifting up the eco-system of boxing, I don’t know why there needs to be a negative spin on it because there is nothing negative to say about what is happening. It is great for boxing.”
The next major Turki Al-Alshikh event is set to take place outside of his home country, as fans flock to Los Angeles to witness a star-studded Israil Madrimov vs. Terence Crawford card on August 3rd.
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