RIYADH: Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua on Sunday toured the 15,000 seat stadium that will be the scene for their world heavyweight title clash in Saudi Arabia.
The “Clash on the Dunes” will take place in the UNESCO heritage site Diriyah on the edge of Riyadh.
Organizers constructed the arena in less than a month to stage one of the biggest sporting events to take place in the Middle East.
The Mexican-American fighter Ruiz, who will be laying his WBO, IBF, WBA and IBO belts on the line described the venue as “amazing”
“It’s amazing to be fighting over here, it’s going to be really historic and I’m planning to make history over here,” he said as he looked around the arena. “It’s a lot different. When I first got here none of this was here so it’s unbelievable.”
The stadium was built from almost 300 tons of steel to cover an area of 10,000 square meters. It was built to host the thousands of fans flying in from dozens of countries to see the fight.
Britain’s Joshua, who lost the belts to Ruiz at their first match in New York earlier this year, said it was going to be an “incredible night.”
“I’m thrilled so many of my fans are going to be there, particularly from the UK,” he said. “It’ll definitely be a night people will tell their grandchildren they were at, one of those iconic evenings of boxing. Everyone from Saudi has been brilliant to work with.”
Diriyah is the venue for a series of international sports events in the space of a month. Last weekend, it hosted the Formula E, and later this month the Diriyah Tennis Cup and Diriyah Equestrian Festival will take place in the historic setting.
Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua tour Diriyah stadium ahead of Saudi clash
Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua tour Diriyah stadium ahead of Saudi clash
Lackluster Liverpool FC snatch late win at Forest
- The Reds stay in 6th place but are tied on points with Chelsea and Man Utd
LIVERPOOL: After having an 89th-minute goal disallowed following a VAR check, the Argentina midfielder scored again in the seventh minute of stoppage time — and this time it survived a video review — to earn Liverpool a 1-0 victory at Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Sunday.
The dramatic end at the City Ground centered completely on Mac Allister, who thought he’d scored without knowing anything about it after turning his back on a clearance by Nottingham Forest defender Ola Aina.
The ball rebounded off Mac Allister and into the net, but the VAR spotted it had struck his arm and the goal was scrubbed out.
However, he was on hand off virtually the last kick of the game when Virgil van Dijk’s header was spilled by Forest goalkeeper Stefan Ortega. Barely six meters out, Mac Allister could hardly miss as he sidefooted the ball into the net.
There was a VAR check to see if Van Dijk was offside but the goal was given.
Liverpool stayed in sixth place but was tied on points with fourth-place Chelsea and fifth-place Manchester United, whose game in hand is at Everton on Monday.
Meanwhile, Sunderland lost its home comforts on Sunday. It wasn’t long ago that Sunderland were the only Premier League team with an unbeaten home record. Now, the Black Cats have lost two straight at the Stadium of Light.
Sunderland was defeated 3-1 by Fulham, which had two goals from Mexico striker Raul Jimenez — one of which was from the penalty spot.
Ten days ago, Sunderland lost 1-0 to Liverpool for its first home defeat of the season.
Also on Sunday, Palace won as doubts swirl around Oliver Glasner’s future.
Glasner’s team dug out a 1-0 win over last-place Wolverhampton thanks to a last-minute goal.
Evann Guessand prodded home a far-post finish after coming on as a substitute.
Ahead of the game, Glasner, who led Palace to FA Cup glory last season, was non-committal about whether he would be staying at the club until the end of the season. He has already said he’ll be leaving in the summer.
Wolves stayed 17 points off safety.
