Saudi Arabia is making waves in the sports world, and boxing is the latest arena they’re conquering. The kingdom has been organizing some of the biggest sporting events, and they’re doing it exceptionally well. Just last month, Riyadh hosted the highly anticipated Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury match for the undisputed heavyweight title, setting a new benchmark in the sport.
But that’s not all-Saudi Arabia is also home to other notable boxing events like the Matchroom vs. Queensberry 5 vs 5 card. And now, the kingdom’s influence is about to get even bigger with a proposed $4-5 billion boxing league backed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF).
This new league aims to unify the fragmented world of boxing by bringing together fighters, promoters, broadcasters, and sanctioning bodies under one roof. The plan is to kick off this ambitious project sometime next year, promising to reshape the sport’s landscape. While the idea of a unified league might sound revolutionary to some, not everyone is thrilled. WBA lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis has been vocal about his skepticism and isn’t too eager to fight in Saudi Arabia.
Davis recently secured a knockout victory over Frank Martin at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. However, his enthusiasm for Saudi Arabia’s new league is lukewarm at best. When asked about His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, Davis didn’t hold back. “If he feel like he got the power coz he got the cash, so it’s like let me sh*t on everybody else,” Davis remarked. He also criticized the potential sidelining of promoters, saying, “It’s somewhat good I would say for the sport, but I don’t know. So you want to kick everybody out! All the promoters! That’s crazy.”
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh had something to say to Davis
The drama escalated when His Excellency Turki Alalshikh responded to Davis’s demands for luxury cars in exchange for a fight in Saudi Arabia. “If they want me they gotta send me something… like 2 Ferraris,” Davis had tweeted. Alalshikh didn’t mince words in his reply on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour show, saying, “I heard (what) Davis said… I say to him: we will send you two gloves if you want, that’s it!” Davis, clearly unimpressed, fired back with his own comments, asserting he doesn’t need Saudi Arabia to sell fights.
Boxing’s history has always been defined by its promoters, and a unified league could indeed disrupt the traditional structure. While some may see this as an evolution, Davis clearly sees it as a threat to the promoters’ role in the sport. Saudi Arabia has proven its prowess in organizing top-tier boxing events. A fight involving a star like Gervonta Davis would undoubtedly be a spectacle fans wouldn’t want to miss. Whether or not Davis will ever fight in Saudi Arabia remains to be seen.
