Joshua – Ruiz II is headed to Saudi Arabia and many are Indignant

Several days ago, Gareth Davies, the boxing writer for the Telegraph, told his readers that the rematch between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz Jr. was headed to Saudi Arabia. We filed that story in the rumor bin, but today it was confirmed. In a press conference at London’s swanky Savoy Hotel, televised live throughout the U.K. on Sky Sports, promoter Eddie Hearn revealed that Joshua-Ruiz II will transpire on Dec. 7 in a specially built stadium in Diriyah, a town on the outskirts of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capitol and largest city.

Joshua and Ruiz met on June 1 at Madison Square Garden. It was Joshua’s U.S. debut. The Englishman, whose family roots are in Nigeria, was undefeated (22-0, 21 KOs) and owned three of the four significant heavyweight belts. Andy Ruiz, who took the fight on four weeks notice, had lost only once in 33 starts but was a massive underdog. And he scored a massive upset, making history as the first boxer of Mexican extraction to win a world heavyweight title. Knocked down in the third round, the chubby Ruiz returned the favor twice before the round was over and knocked Joshua down twice more in the seventh before the bout was stopped.

Joshua-Ruiz II, billed as “Clash on the Dunes,” will be the third professional boxing event in Saudi Arabia. On Sept. 20 of last year, Callum Smith met George Groves in the finals of the World Boxing Super Series 168-pound tournament. This past July, Amir Khan fought Billy Dib.

Khan, who co-promoted the event and purportedly earned $7 million for what was little more than a glorified exhibition, predicted that the Arab nation would soon become a popular destination for big fights. “We intend to make Saudi Arabia a big fight capitol just like Las Vegas, New York, and London,” he said at a pre-fight meeting with reporters.

We commented that it wouldn’t surprise us at all if that came to pass. Boxing promoters follow the money and the Saudi royal family, which controls the purse strings for the Saudi General Sports Authority, which controls 24 sporting venues, is awash in it. Among his other hobbies, GSA chairman Prince Abdullah Musa’ad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud owns a 50 percent stake in the Sheffield United soccer team and another 50 percent stake in a soccer club in Belgium. He has yet to acquire an interest in a U.S. sports franchise, but that may yet come. Prince Abdullah is said to be a big fan of the San Francisco 49ers.

Saudi Arabia, a nation of about 33.5 million, slightly more than a third of whom are immigrants, is one of the fastest-growing countries in the world. It paid a big site fee to land the Joshua-Ruiz rematch. Reports vary from $40 million to as high as $100 million.

At today’s press conference, Eddie Hearn skirted the subject of money but plugged his promotion as “an iconic moment that could change the sport of boxing forever.” This event, said Hearn, will go down in history with the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ and the ‘Thrilla in Manila.’

To deflect concerns about the logistics of holding the fight in Saudi Arabia, Hearn noted that Riyadh is only six hours away from London by plane and that everyone who buys a ticket will automatically receive a 30-day visa. The time difference between the two countries is only two hours which means that the fight will likely air around 9:00 pm in the UK, five hours earlier in New York. A pay-per-event in the U.K., it will be live-streamed on DAZN in North America.

But Hearn has bigger concerns than logistics. The Saudi regime has come under attack for human rights abuses, for waging a war of attrition in neighboring Yemen, and even the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. A United Nations-led inquiry concluded that the killing of Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October of last year was “planned and perpetrated” by Saudi officials.

Coining a new word, Felix Jakens, the head of the U.K. branch of Amnesty International, condemned Saudi Arabia for “using sports to ‘sportswash’ their severely tarnished image.” “Money over morals” was the headline or sub-headline in several British papers.

As Hearn noted, Saudi Arabia is becoming a major player in many sports, not just boxing.

The WWE was among the first to penetrate the Saudi market. The organization began a series of shows in April of 2014. The April 27, 2018 event, witnessed by an announced crowd of 60,000 at King Abdullah Stadium near Jeddah, included a 50-man battle royal and was rightly billed as the Greatest Royal Rumble.

The was the first WWE event in Saudi Arabia that women were allowed to attend, although they had to be accompanied by a male escort. Constraints against women have gradually loosened in recent years. In 2013, girls were allowed to take physical education classes in public schools. In 2015, Saudi women were granted the right to vote in local elections. Last year the King issued a decree allowing women the right to drive a car.

Hearn has said that women will be welcome at the Joshua-Ruiz rematch. Whether any will be allowed to enter the stadium unattached, if so inclined, remains to be seen.

Can Anthony Joshua accomplish what Lennox Lewis accomplished not once, but twice, namely avenging a shocking defeat? That’s a story for another day. For the record, the early line sees Joshua a consensus 16/5 (minus-320) favorite.

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