which fight are you most looking forward to?

Ahead of Saturday’s huge night of boxing in Riyadh, the BoxingScene team looks ahead to what it anticipates will happen in Saudi Arabia and, on a promotion featuring numerous main-event-worthy contests, discusses which fight appeals the most.

Tris Dixon: I loved the first fight between Beterbiev and Bivol and even though you can say we’ve already seen it, I’m as eager to see it again as I was the first time. Beterbiev won, and I felt he had, but very little was resolved by that fight. Bring on part two.

Kieran Mulvaney: The main event. Beterbiev-Bivol I wasn’t quite the classic we had been hoping for, but it was a highly skilled and fast-paced contest between boxers with contrasting styles. Sometimes, rematches can be relative duds because the fighters are a bit more cautious after learning each other’s tricks, but I fully expect this one to kick off as if we are straight into rounds 13-24.

Tom Ivers: Daniel Dubois-Joseph Parker is a fascinating contest; both men are flying high at the moment. Dubois is confident coming off that huge win over Joshua, but has it gone to his head? Parker is in the form of his life – can he outbox Dubois and become a two-time heavyweight champion? I really cannot call this one and can’t wait to see it unfold.

Ryan Songalia: For me, it’s the Zhilei Zhang-Agit Kabayel fight. Heavyweights can end a fight in the blink of an eye, just as Zhang did against Deontay Wilder in his last fight out. But here we have a match-up between an economical, one-punch KO artist in Zhang and a rough pressure fighter in Kabayel. Whose style will win out? That’s what I want to see.

Owen Lewis: Vergil Ortiz Jnr-Israil Madrimov, which I think has more capacity to answer questions fans have about the fighters than any other bout on the card. Was Madrimov’s tough, tricky performance against Terence Crawford the product of a favorable style match-up or a definitive sign of his quality? Is Madrimov better than Serhii Bohachuk by enough to get the best of Ortiz where Bohachuk couldn’t? Is Ortiz the next guy at 154lbs, which has recently had Tim Tszyu clobbered out of the title picture and Crawford departing in the hopes of a fight with Canelo? From Ortiz scoring a KO to Madrimov putting on an awkward clinic, the range of possibilities is wide, and could produce a new fringe pound-for-pounder.

Lance Pugmire: Ortiz-Madrimov has all the elements of a classic given the entertainment quality of Ortiz recovering from two knockdowns to outwork and edge Serhii Bohachuk on the scorecards in August. Madrimov confronts the desperation of avoiding a second consecutive loss after being narrowly defeated in his WBA junior-middleweight title loss in August to Terence Crawford. Both guys are ascending toward the peak of their talents as Ortiz tests his hellacious knockout rate against Madrimov’s wondrous fitness and overall talents. It’s a main event of any other card, and frankly, I’d like to see these guys go at in a trilogy at least.

Matt Christie: Ortiz-Madrimov might lead the way in terms of blood-and-guts entertainment but I’ll be fascinated to see what happens when Joseph Parker becomes the latest to test the new-and-improved Daniel Dubois. The winner will be the most deserving of a shot at Oleksandr Usyk and you can make convincing cases for both being that winner.

Eric Raskin: It’s a testament to the depth of this card that I seriously considered four different fights as the possible answer to this question. In the end, until I change my mind again, I’m landing on Ortiz-Madrimov. Ortiz couldn’t make a bad fight if he tried, and this is essentially a 50-50 match-up. Starting with the Bohachuk fight, we’ve reached the “prove it” stage of Ortiz’s career, and it’s a stage I don’t want to miss a second of.

David Greisman: Daniel Dubois-Joseph Parker, for storyline purposes that factor into the entertainment value. Both men were seemingly on their way down after losses. Dubois was put away by Joe Joyce and Oleksandr Usyk, while Parker seemed to be on his way out after being KO’d by Joyce. Each has worked his way back and is on a good run. Dubois has stopped Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua. Parker won decisions over Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang. One man’s run ends here. Will Dubois retain his title? Or will Parker, who lost his belt to Joshua back in 2018, return to glory nearly seven years later?

Declan Warrington: The main event. Inevitably, given how much the first fight delivered, how much it left unresolved, and how watchable – for very different reasons – Beterbiev and Bivol both are. But I’ll add that Callum Smith-Joshua Buatsi is every bit as intriguing. It’s a fight that not only looks very competitive, it ought to answer so many of the questions surrounding both fighters – above all else, how much Smith (victory over him perhaps represented the best of Beterbiev’s career, until his first fight with Bivol) has left, and after promising so much, how good Buatsi really is?

Elliot Worsell: I’ll go for the heavyweight fight between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker. I could be wrong, but I sense it will be exciting in a way some of the others aren’t. The main event will once again be a fight of the highest calibre, though.

Jason Langendorf: This card is flush with top-notch fights – or at least excellent match-ups – but what are we doing here? The main event is indeed the main attraction. After the two pound-for-pound elites fought for undisputed status in October and put on a close, entertaining fight in one of the best-ever light heavyweight match-ups, they’re running it back? Yes, please. All the same questions must be answered over again: is Beterbiev too old? Can Bivol withstand Beterbiev’s power? I’m as excited about this one as I was for the first.