Organizers have been coy with tickets, but it is expected about 75% have already been soldGETTY IMAGES
Saudi Arabia is "planning to bid to host many more" boxing title fights "including, potentially, the biggest one of all" between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder, according to Matt Dickinson of the LONDON TIMES. Controversy around the "issue of 'sportswashing' ... is unlikely to deter the Saudis from throwing millions of petrodollars at more fights, nor boxers from coming." Matchroom Boxing's Eddie Hearn, who promotes Joshua, said, "You're going to be regularly coming out here. They want to make Saudi the home of boxing." Organizers of the rematch between Andy Ruiz Jr. and Joshua taking place in Diriyah on Saturday have been "coy about tickets but it is thought about 75 percent have been sold." Meanwhile, Hearn "dismissed the idea that sport should make a stand over human rights or gender equality." Hearn: "I was driving up looking at House of Fraser, Gucci, Chanel, Starbucks -- major corporations willing to trade here, but we can't accept a deal to have a fight with another man in the most brutal sport because of someone's opinion on sportswashing?" He added, "I am not a politician and I've got a job to do for my fighter. It really doesn't matter what I think but I can tell you I'm happy and excited with the deal and how it's gone and with what I see behind the scenes. The people I am dealing with have very good intentions for the sport" (LONDON TIMES, 12/4).
GOING ALL IN: In London, Matt Hughes reports Saudi Arabia is "planning to create a new cross-border city state governed by western, rather than Islamic, law as part of its long-term strategy to become a global centre for world class sporting events." The "key element" of the country's Vision 2030 is the "introduction of western laws in the new city of Neom," a $524.2B project in the north west near the Red Sea. The proposed project "should help" Saudi Arabia "win the right to stage more global events." The new city would "operate independently from the rest of the country, with different laws for workers and women's rights, as well as giving more freedom to visitors such as the right to drink alcohol, which boxing fans are denied this weekend" for Joshua-Ruiz Jr. The first stage in the construction of Neom is "due to be completed" by '25, though that "may be delayed after a planned sale of shares in state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco to raise funds was put back" (London DAILY MAIL, 12/4).
