Eddie Hearn wanted to be candid. When asked why his biggest boxing match of the year is being held in Jeddah instead of New York, Las Vegas or London, the answer was clear.
"The problem at the moment is that nobody wants to be honest," said the longtime promoter of Anthony Joshua. “I am very happy to make such a decision, especially in boxing. It's a prize fight that has to go."
Selling large sporting events to the highest bidder is clearly nothing new, but the world's eyes turned to Saudi Arabia on Saturday. When the staging of this fight, many critics would argue that something else was at work. night.
"I don't know what it is," Joshua said..
"The world is in a bad place. You can't just point to one place," he added. “If you want to point out the Saudis, point out everyone. We all have to do better, and that is my heart.
Of course, this is not Joshua's first trip to the Middle East. He returns to where he scored the decisive victory over Andy Ruiz Jr. in December 2019. This got revenge for giving the Mexican-American a stop loss six months ago. In doing so, Joshua regained the heavyweight title he lost to Lewis Jr. that June — the same belt he dropped to Usyk last September and is looking to regain it this weekend.
Returning to his kingdom, Joshua's focus was solely on recreating his feat at the Battle of Lewis and reclaiming the Title Gold.
Anthony Joshua defeated Andy Ruiz Jr. in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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For human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, the first step toward real progress is for participants of such exhibitions to recognize their role in it and to use the platform to
Peter Frankel, director of economic affairs at Amnesty International UK, said: 'Prominent athletes have taken a stand on human rights to defeat the negative effects of Saudi sportswashing. I want to speak," he said. “We urge Anthony Joshua to use his platform to show solidarity with those persecuted under Mohammed bin Salman's crackdown.”
Women's freedoms in particular have been restricted, and this week Salma Alshehab, a 34-year-old former University of Leeds student, was sentenced to 34 years in prison for sharing critical posts on social media.
Crystal contrasts Jeddah's undercard to see the kingdom's first professional women's boxing match when her Garcianova takes on Ramlaari.
"Why don't women want to box or have equal opportunities for women?" said to "Such comments make me really sad. What I see here is that women are free to do whatever they want and train with men if they want."
Amnesty International will again disagree.
Ramla Ali participates in first professional women's fight to be staged in Saudi Arabia
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Felix Jakens, head of the Priority Campaign, said, "Away from the glitz and spectacle of the boxing ring, Saudi women The reality is that they face serious discrimination in inheritance, custody and child custody." in a human rights organization.
“In recent years, Saudi women who have bravely called for reform in the country have been imprisoned, tortured and completely silenced. We wish her all the best in her future boxing career, but nothing has progressed in the slightest about Saudi Arabia's human rights record.
Of course, this battle is not alone. has recently increased its involvement in golf,the LIV Golf Series, football,last year's acquisition of Newcastle United, among others. , "Boxing is a very dark industry. There's a lot of negativity, you tear each other apart, you have egos. I'm not really into it. I'm just trying to bring light to people."
But not everyone sees this battle in the light Joshua brought.
