His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia, today announced an official partnership between Riyadh Season and major US-based promoters Top Rank and Golden Boy.
Riyadh Season will sponsor 12 Top Rank events selected by the promoter during the remainder of this year and 2025. Golden Boy has a similar deal beginning with the August 10 WBC interim super welterweight title clash between Serhii Bohachuk and Vergil Ortiz Jr.
Over the past 12 months, Riyadh Season has established itself as a key player in boxing, having hosted a string of world-class and innovative cards, including the first undisputed heavyweight title fight of the 21st century between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury. It is now looking to expand its reach into the U.S. market on August 3 when Terence Crawford and Israil Madrimov go head-to-head for the WBA and WBO interim super welterweight titles at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
All I want right now is the official announcement of Loma vs Tank, regardless of who’s making it happen.
We were so close to a November showdown until Lomachenko ran away. He barely fights and wants the rest of the year off.
Riyadh season appears to be good for boxing for now.
Well that’s good news. I see PBC isn’t in there. I wonder if this will force them to come out and play with others a bit more or if they’ll continue to stick to themselves.
They are stubborn Lucie so my guess is the latter. I am not in their heads but it often seems PBC is more interested in control then anything else. Greed I can handle because when the money is right the fight will get made but when control is the motive…it makes getting deals done difficult.
You wonder about them, going forward. I think them not being involved in this will make it VERY difficult to attract big free agents for anything more than one or two fights at most. The way the sport is now, it doesn’t like it’s the brightest idea to be reclusive.
First thing I noticed as well.. and it’s probably good news. Would you want your promotion aligned with PBC?
You’d want some of the fighters they have but they can be picked off as they have been for months now. You wonder what Tank does at the end of his contract.
The Brave and Generous Marauders took over boxing, PBC remains the last Narcissistic refugium, boxers who want to seek safety from getting exposed in the Real world, can stay safe at PBC.
– Thank you, Boxing Gods.
– Thank you, again, Amazon Fire Stick……..
Best be extra careful stealing from the Saudi. Lose your hands or worse like that
I 100% back Turki Alalshikh for what he is attempting to do. There is a lot of money to be made with the Saudis as seen with the WWE’s partnership. I see Arum and Oscar appear to be on-board but no PBC. There is always one who holds out but as the money grows its wishful thinking they’ll cave in and get left behind. Finally, boxing fans are in a position where we can get past the red tape and see the best fight the best.
Interesting enough this is going to expose a lot of top fighters who really don’t want top fights but claim they do. I remember Tank Davis speaking out against Turki Alalshikh. If this goes down like I hope boxers will be like UFC fighters and not be given a choice, but will have to fight the best. Lopez vs Garcia, Tank vs Loma, Shakur vs Zepeda, Crawford vs Canelo, Jake Paul vs Godzilla, etc. Its endless.