Saudi Arabian welterweight Ziyad Almaayouf said he feels empowered to be his country’s flag-bearer for boxing on a global stage.
The 6-0-1 (1 KOs) Almaayouf is keen to play his part in growing the sport in Saudi Arabia, where he will box on the February 22 bill topped by the mouth-watering light heavyweight rematch between unified light heavyweight king Artur Beterbiev and challenger Dmitry Bivol.
“Zizo” drew with 5-6 Juan Carlos Ramirez Garcia in Riyadh in November. He is hoping to inspire the next generation of Saudi Arabia fighters and is representing his country on the card alongside 2-0 junior lightweight Mohammed Alakel.
“I’ve said it before and I want to say it again, this is a multi-generational story where every generation we see a power puncher, every generation we see a fast puncher, but it’s only multi-generational where you see the history-makers, where you see the people who are representing not just a country but the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but a whole side of the world and the Arab world in such a powerful place like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, not just carrying our dreams, our hopes, or our pressures, but the pressures of millions on our back, and me and Mohammed are doing that on this card,” said Almaayouf.
“And I’m so proud to see another Saudi fighter here today, and I’m so proud that there are two Saudi fighters on this card and one day you will see a table full of us and another day you will see a whole card full of Saudi fighters. And I am not going to stop until I see that. I have always said this is more than just about boxing. This is bigger than me. This is bigger than boxing… I want to see you all shine.”
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