On last Friday’s episode of the Morning Kombat, combat sports analyst Luke Thomas compared the reported Riyadh Season boxing card scheduled for February 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to Fogo de Chao, the Brazilian steakhouse chain serving customers a rotating selection of cooked meats until you turn your table card from green to red. Much like the endless parade of cuts at Fogo de Chao, the card offers an overwhelming array of high-quality matchups, leaving fans with an abundance of options that collectively make for an indulgent boxing experience often only associated with special occasions. He notes that while none of the individual fights would headline a premier event on their own, the quality of the potential fights on one card presents “so much goodness [that] you’re stuffed.”
On Monday, that possibility came closer to fruition as Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia and lead organizer of Riyadh Season, announced the card headlined by Artur Beterbiev and Dmitrii Bivol. This marks another chapter in Riyadh Season’s venture into boxing as part of Saudi Arabia’s tourism campaign and another major event that boxing fans can indulge in, thanks in large part to the financial investment. It is also another departure from, to borrow Luke’s meaty metaphor, the “Arby’s” of unfulfilling boxing cards.
Just four months after Beterbiev beat Bivol by a narrow majority decision, the pair will face off again for the undisputed light heavyweight title. With no convincing winner, no serious injury, and a reported rematch clause, it was only a matter of when—not if—they would get in the ring again. To the delight of boxing fans, this sets up another highly anticipated matchup in the first quarter of 2025, nestled between two PBC on Prime events.
The abundance of this six-fight Riyadh Season card is apparent from the co-main onward. Daniel “Dynamite” Dubois will take on Joseph Parker for Dubois’ IBF heavyweight title. It is one of several matchups on this card that could have stood alone as a separate main event but instead will support the light-heavyweight prizefight.
Just 12 months ago, few people would have predicted that Dubois-Parker would represent the second-best fight in the heavyweight division. That was before Dubois stopped Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller and Filip Hrgovic and likely ended Anthony Joshua’s championship campaign in a hellacious victory in September. Similarly, Parker emerged as a top contender in the division after defeating a gun-shy Deontay Wilder and outworking Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang four months later. Dubois-Parker will keep the division moving and likely determine the challenger for the winner between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, who will fight for the WBC, WBA, and WBO titles on a separate Riyadh Season card on Dec. 21. Safe to say this is a welcome relegation from “main event” status.
Shakur Stevenson will also make his debut as a Matchroom Boxing fighter against the young and ambitious Floyd “Kid Austin” Schofield. The WBC lightweight champion’s failure to secure a bigger fight has been met with derision, as some are questioning whether moving to Matchroom makes sense. The former Top Rank fighter from Newark, New Jersey, disappointed fans after promising and failing to dominate his opponents in his last two performances.
Kid Austin has positioned himself as a top prospect in the lightweight division under the Golden Boy Promotions banner, but with no championship experience, many observers believe this could be a mismatch, especially given his last performance. Still, Stevenson could benefit from a bounceback fight following a career change and a nagging hand injury. While he could have sold out another arena in his hometown as a headliner, an undercard assignment abroad could suit him well at this stage in his journey. Success for either fighter could set up a unification against the division’s biggest earner, WBA champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis.
In the WBC middleweight title matchup, champion Carlos “Bronco” Adames will take on meteoric upstart Hamzah Sheeraz. Sheeraz will make his third appearance on a Riyadh Season card after beating Tyler Denny in two rounds for the European middleweight title. The towering 6-foot-3 Brit represents the future of a division that many believe has lacked the excitement of years past. The Dominican “Bronco” has borne the consequences of this stasis, waiting for years as a mandatory to the WBC belt before Jermall Charlo was finally stripped of it. The Premier Boxing Champions fighter will look to make the most of this appearance and continue his reign at the top of the division against a brutal finisher in Sheeraz.
Virgil Ortiz Jr. is scheduled to fight Israil Madrimov in a compelling super welterweight scrap for the WBC interim belt. The operative term here is "scheduled," as Madrimov is already set to face Serhii Bohachuk in less than three weeks. Confusion quickly arose online as this card was announced on Monday evening Eastern time, with many noting that this would mean he’d fight again two months later. Though Ring Magazine’s Jake Donovan clarified that this was indeed the case, Serhii Bohachuk is no pushover and actually managed to knock Ortiz Jr. down twice while staying on his feet before losing on points. Go figure.
Should Madrimov (or Bohachuk) not be able to fight in February, Xander Zayas could step in as a major underdog. The Puerto Rican super welterweight contender reportedly accepted a deal to step in against Ortiz after Jaron "Boots" Ennis fell through as an opponent in bizarre fashion, but before Madrimov was announced. Whether Top Rank would even be willing to stake his career build on this opportunity is a separate matter. This would not be the first Riyadh Season card to see shifts in the lineup after an announcement, though the promotion seems well-suited to replace an opponent for Ortiz.
Rounding out the card are Joshua Buatsi vs. Callum Smith and Zhilei Zhang vs. Agit Kabayel. As the WBO light heavyweight champion, Buatsi will look to cement his place in line to face the winner of Beterbiev-Bivol, though he would have to contend with the winner of David Benavidez-David Morrell (and other mandatories) for that opportunity. Agit Kabayel is looking to sustain his breakout success on Riyadh Season cards after a career of fights in Germany, Poland, and Türkiye. While "Big Bang" Zhang may be aged, he can still thump. The WBC interim heavyweight title is at stake.
It’s hard to count on this card staying intact considering the variables involved. Outside of the Ortiz Jr.-Madrimov situation, Stevenson and Beterbiev have both pulled out of fights this year due to injury, and cross-promotional interests (and conflicts) could still prevail. The possibility of a frenetic lead-up aside, the excitement around Monday’s announcement represents the hope that many fans have of seeing consistency in quality cards like the ones that await in 2025.
Let’s hope Luke Thomas can manage the boxing fan equivalent of the “meat sweats” and diverticulitis.
Comments