His Excellency Turki Alalshikh reports the pay-per-view price for the February 22nd Riyadh Season card is 19.99 in the UK and $25.99 in the U.S. and “the rest of the world.” It’s an outstanding price for the six fights that were announced today on the card
Bargain PPV
All five undercard fights could headline their cards, and, amazingly, these matches are listed below. The main event for the February 22nd card is the rematch between undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and former WBA champ Dmitry Bivol. The combination of PPV price and the great fights on the card makes it appealing. I can’t remember seeing a card this stacked in many years.
There was some grumbling from fans and Bivol’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, about the outcome of the first fight with Beterbiev on October 12th. So, there will be a rematch to settle it.
Bivol looked like he didn’t want to be there after the seventh round and was in survival mode. He deserved the loss 100%, and Beterbiev will make sure Bivol’s fans don’t have anything to yak about afterward.
The undercard has two outstanding fights that fans will discuss during the build-up. They are as follows:
- Shakur Stevenson vs. Floyd Schofield
- Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Israil Madrimov
The Ortiz Jr.-Madrimov fight is tentative because it requires that Madrimov come through his December 21st contest against Serghii Bohachuk without suffering a loss or getting injured. Promoter Tom Loeffler sees it as “bad karma” to have Madrimov scheduled to fight Vergil Ortiz Jr. on February 22nd when he’s got a difficult fight against Bohachuk this month.
“Bad Karma to post this. Bohachuk has over 90% KO ratio, knocked Vergil down twice. He is going for the KO against Madrimov on Dec 21, so there is no more funny business with the judges,” said Tom Loeffler on X.
We will make PPV price no more than 19.99 GBP in UK, and in USA and the rest of the world not more than 25.99 USD 🔥🥊 (We want the fans be happy and enjoy it…Lets get boxing great again 💪🏻) pic.twitter.com/Y2SqdJqENb
— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) December 3, 2024
No Gimmes
“He has deep pockets, and they are paying the fighters a lot of money,” said commentator Ade Aladipo to talkSport Boxing about His Excellency Turki Alalshikh putting together the February 22nd card.
“In the past, fighters would say, ‘I’m not doing that fight because I’m not getting paid enough.’ They almost can’t turn down these fights now. It’s a lot more than what they’re used to getting paid. Plus, he’s got the broadcasters and promoters working with each other right now.
“This would have been almost impossible to put this card together without deep pockets. They are all big, important fights. There are no gimmes. Most of the fights down the card are 50-50.
Before Turki Alalahikh got involved in boxing, many of the last five years’ fight cards were terrible and getting worse. For fans who remembered the great cards in the 1980s and 1990s, they had become disillusioned with the sport.
Many fans had stopped following boxing due to the lackluster events, which were loaded with mismatches purposefully put together by promoters to sell a bad product. That still goes on, obviously, but at least there’s Turki, who is putting together great fights.
“The first fight will probably be Zhilei Zhang against Agit Kabayel. You’re talking two top-six heavyweights walking first. That’s normally a six-rounder or eight-rounder,” said Ade about the February 22nd card.
“Nah, it’s got to be Beterbiev against Bivol. You’re talking about two of the best light heavyweights of all time. The first fight was so good. All the belts, every single belt in the division,” said Ade when asked if the Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker fight should be the headliner on the February 22nd card.
“Dubois’ rise in the last year has been great. He’ll be a good co-main event, but even he knows the two best in the world have to go first. Beterbiev is pound-for-pound #5. Bivol #6. These are two of the best. They have to go first,” said Ade.
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