SPECIAL COLLABORATION
The year 2024 was one of the most successful years in the history of boxing with the advent of the “Riyadh Seasons” and the unlimited resources of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA) of Saudi Arabia and its president, his Excellency Turki Alalshikh.
There have been eight events in this series, six in Riyadh, one in Los Angeles and one in London.
To summarize, this series presented the two big fights won by Oleksandr Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) against Tyson Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) at heavyweight , the first of which is unanimously considered the quintessential fight of the year.
We were finally treated to the unification of the light heavyweights won by Artur Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) over Dmitry Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs), the return and the descent of Anthony Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs), the coronation of Daniel Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs), the end of Deontay Wilder (43-4-1, 42 KOs) as an elite boxer and the revival of Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs).
We even attended a Latin evening at the Kingdom Arena with Oscar De La Hoya’s boxers, as well as a women’s fight, the lovely Skye Nicolson (12-0, 1 KO), still world champion .
Among the great stars who continued to evolve independently of the Saudi revolution, there is Canelo Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs), with his two decision victories obtained in Las Vegas.
There is also Naoya Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs), who filled the Tokyo Dome in Japan, as well as Jake Paul, who with Mike Tyson established an absolute audience record for boxing with nearly 125 million spectators on Netflix.
As well as all the big stars of women’s boxing including Katie Taylor (24-1, 6 KOs) and Amanda Serrano (47-3-1, 31 KOs) who fought a second fight anthology on Netflix last November.
None of these major events was profitable; that’s not the goal. They were all subsidized with tens of millions and the participating boxers all received “generational” scholarships, that is to say rich enough to allow them a golden retirement after a single participation.
If we believed that this Arab incursion was only the result of a whim of an enlightened person and that the effect would fade with time, then we were completely wrong. In light of the latest statements, 2024 was just the tip of the iceberg!
It is this year, in 2025, that we will see the real plan and the ambitions of the project whose foundations are in Riyadh.
Last fall, Turki Alalshikh purchased Ring Magazine from Oscar De La Hoya. We thought it was a fantasy, but we now realize that it is the brand image of this 103-year-old publication, nicknamed “the boxing bible”, which will be the spearhead of the Semitic adventure. in the world of boxing.
From the start of 2025, Alalshikh showed his colors. We started with a big gala in London bringing together the majority of the big stars from the world of boxing to present the “Ring Magazine Annual Merits”.
The invitation to all participants, regardless of their origin, included business class plane tickets, hotel suite and tuxedo rental. We held a presentation evening that was reminiscent of the Oscars in Hollywood.
It was prestigious, well organized and all the participants considered themselves lucky to have been invited. Don King was even presented with a lifetime achievement award.
We wanted to honor the best boxers, the best performances in the various categories, but above all we wanted to take the time to discuss with the main stars and explain to them the plan that his excellence had for them. And there was something for everyone!
So what are we planning for 2025?
This year there will still be the “Riyadh Seasons” in Saudi Arabia. The next clash is on February 22 at the Kingdom Arena, “The Last Crescendo”, with the main feature being the rematch between Beterbiev and Bivol.
-On this occasion, we anticipate that it will be the most exciting of all the galas in the series and yet there have been several exceptional ones. The seven fights presented will be world championships, including the very interesting first defense of the IBF heavyweight title by Daniel Dubois against Joe Parker (35-3, 23 KOs)
Outside of Saudi, GEA will present Ring Magazine Galas in the United States and Great Britain in partnership with SNK Corporation.
To achieve them, we are actively in discussion with the 16 biggest stars of international boxing and that does not even include the boxers who have already participated in the “Riyad Seasons”
This time, Canelo Alvarez appears to be rallying for a long-term deal that includes a matchup with Terence Crawford. We also have plans for Naoya Inoue.
Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KOs), who is pursuing Ryan Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) following their fight last April where the latter was suspended for a year later a positive doping test, would have agreed to an agreement for two more duels against each other.
The enfant terrible of British boxing Conor Benn (23-0, 14 KOs), son of the legendary Nigel Benn, will finally face Chris Eubank Jr., son of the equally famous Chris Eubank. We’ve been trying for four years without success.
We also have plans for Teofimo Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs) who is at odds with his promoter Top Rank. And the list of boxers in demand is still long.
The partnership with SNK Corporation is not benign. This group specializes in video games and will launch on April 24, for Playstation, Windows et Xboxan apparently highly anticipated game: Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.
Finally, SNK is owned by the Saudi MiSK Foundation. We stay with family.
And that’s not all! In collaboration with the WBC, GEA is launching a tournament for the next generation called “The Riyadh Season WBC Grand Prix”. A tournament which will bring together 36 boxers aged 26 or under with no more than 15 fights experience in four weight divisions for a total of 128 boxers.
The divisions selected are feather (126), super light (140), medium (160) and heavy (+200). The tournament will begin in April and run throughout the year with the finals in December.
All fights will take place in Riyadh in single elimination. The preliminary bouts will take place over eight rounds, while the semi-finals and finals will take place over 10 rounds. The winner of each division will take home more than US$1 million.
At the same time Turki Alalshikh wants to bring back the former heavyweight world champion Vladimir Klitschko (64-5, 53 KOs), who will be 49 years old in March, to allow him to beat the record of George Foreman, who 45 years old became the oldest boxer to win the heavyweight title.
In fact, there seems to be no limit to the creativity of his excellence who controls unlimited funds to buy what and whoever he wants. There is no one who can act in return and his arrival completely shatters the hierarchy that the promoters had acquired by developing their teams and their markets.
Boxers are the big winners, as many of them get fights that seemed impossible in the past, due to lack of financial resources or due to conflicting allegiances.
The biggest stars will regularly face each other and fight often, which will result in the popularity of professional boxing growing exponentially.
For boxing fans, the year promises to be extremely interesting, spectacular and all the big fights we want are likely to come true.
Happy boxing in 2025!
