DIRIYAH: Saudi Arabia is developing into a global hub for sports and athletes.
Sunday’s event, part of the Diriyah Season, billed as “The Truth,” delivered a highly anticipated fight between two of boxing’s biggest rivals, Jake Paul and Tommy Fury, and in the semi main event for the WBC Cruiserweight World title where challenger Badou Jack “the Ripper” defeated Ilunga Makabu in Diriyah Arena.
The new WBC cruiserweight champ Badou Jack told Arab News at the post-event press conference that the Kingdom was becoming the biggest boxing nation in the world and that the focus should also be on local fights. “If it’s not already and, yeah, I think we should both have like the smaller fights too, the local fights, you know, and more and more cards, more different shows,” he said.
He said that this would give an opportunity for young local boxers to thrive. He added that one day Saudi Arabia would have a world champion in boxing.
For Tommy Fury, fighting in Saudi Arabia was a personal matter as he recalled his thoughts before making his entrance into the arena.
“You know, I’m standing there in that tunnel all by myself before I actually came out. I was thinking about where I’ve come from, you know, get out of Salford, Manchester, you know, Tyson (Fury) was the greatest, you know Tyson was the boxer in the family and I was just a little kid poking through each photo that you look back on, you know in the memories and just in the background. You know, what I said tonight will be my night, it’s my time to shine the whole world … come up victorious.”
Fury said that to him all that mattered at that moment was “I’m here. I said it was gonna work for the last three years and it came out and I did.”
Jake Paul was taking in the experience of main event boxing just as his brother Logan Paul did last November for the WWE Crown Jewel in Mrsool Park in Riyadh. Paul said that he finds the Saudi energy captivating.
“Well look, man, just proving to be an amazing place for all sorts of sports and the turnout tonight was crazy. We had more American superstars in the building here in Saudi than we do in the States. So this is becoming a hub, and just a really awesome place to put on events because the fans turn out. They’re so excited, even if they’re booing me, but it’s all good. I have love for everyone here,” he said.
