The Riyadh Season card is now officially announced for February 22nd, with a couple of surprises. In the headliner, undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev will defend against Dmitry Bivol in a rematch, which most fans felt deserved to be at the top of the bill.
Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Israil Madrimov
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has surprised fans by scheduling WBC interim junior middleweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. to face former WBA champ Israil Madrimov.
We’d heard that Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) could be facing Xander Zayas next, but this is a much choice. Madrimov is a big puncher with outstanding technical skills, and they came close to defeating Terence Crawford last summer on August 3rd.
February 22nd Riyadh Season card
Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol 2: Main event
Daniel Dubois vs Joseph Parker
Shakur Stevenson vs Floyd Schofield
Carlos Adames vs Hamzah Sheeraz
Vergil Ortiz vs Israil Madrimov
Zhilei Zhang vs Agit Kabayel
Joshua Buatsi vs Callum Smith
Interestingly, Madrimov had been talked about fighting former WBC interim 154-lb champion Serhii Bohahuk on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk 2 on December 21st.
Madrimov is still scheduled to fight Bohachuk on December 21st, so he will take an old-school approach by fighting twice within two months. Turki’s great addition is using Madrimov as Vergil Ortiz Jr’s opponent rather than Xander Zayas, who said he’d been offered the fight.
Placing IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker as the chief support is highly questionable because U.S. fans have little interest in seeing this fight. Parker is viewed as a past-his-prime guy with a boring style, and he’s not popular in the States.
Fans are more interested in WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson’s defense against Floyd Schofield. That match-up will create more interest during the build-up than the charisma-lacking Dubois-Parker fight. Shakur-Schofield should be the chief support bout on this card because the attention this fight will attract will drown out any interest in the Dubois-Parker match.
The #3 spot on the card should be Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Israil Madrimov. That’s a much better fight than the Dubois vs. Parker match-up. U.S fans would prefer this one over the heavyweight matchup.
The other interesting addition to this card is Callum Smith challenging Joshua Buatsi for his WBO interim light heavyweight title. Smith fought last Saturday night and is making a fast turnaround.
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