One of the reasons the UFC was able to get over so big during the boom days of Zuffa’s $4 billion run was that it vowed to not become boxing. What did that mean exactly? Well, for the longest time Dana White and Co. kept the promise to put on “the fights that people wanted to see,” meaning white-hot contenders could go gunning for titles, and titleholders would be granted neither safe haven nor cover from that reality. All belts would be made vulnerable to the best of the best, no matter how much a champion wanted to protect status.
Of course, it’s easier to do that when there’s but a single belt in each weight class, all fighting under one promotion. And of course, all of this was before Jon Jones learned to hold his heavyweight title just out of the reach of interim champion Tom Aspinall, but still — it was an effective model for holding fan’s interest. There were other things the UFC did to counter boxing’s model too — such as stacking pay-per-views with multiple big fights, rather than making a card top-heavy.
If this Saturday’s mega-card out in Riyadh tells us anything, it’s that boxing has come around to some of these ideas. The first box office event to kick off the 2025 Riyadh season is a doozy in how deep it rolls. We’re talking fathoms deep. The greatest boxing card ever assembled, they are saying. Seven different title fights. Partitions down everywhere for cross-promotion. Rematches of the highest order. Redemption stories. Matchmaking footwork at the eleventh hour. Dudes who’d never come together under ordinary circumstances meeting at the proverbial bike rack, many of them still very much in their prime.
This is how you unify a fan base. Bring a fistic spectacular that offers something for everybody. Boxing will be warming its hands off the heat of the Saudi Arabian desert this weekend, but if you’re an MMA fan or even a casual sports fan interested in diving headfirst into Saturday’s action, here’s a handy guide to help make the transition a smooth one.
OK, OK, so if this card is so good, it must have a stellar main event, right?
It does! The light heavyweight title rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol is as good as it gets. Though we are in an era of four-belt champions, as Naoya Inoue sits alongside Artur Beterbiev as an undisputed titleholder (and Terence Crawford and Oleksandr Usyk previously), you rarely get a fight of this caliber a second time with such seismic stakes. Here we have two moderately respectful Russians, each of them just as cold as a Siberian rain, coming for each other a second time. The first time they fought, back in October, Beterbiev eked out a majority decision over Dmitry Bivol that gave a good portion of the fight world a reason to complain.
Wait, complain? Why?
Well, that’s because plenty of people saw it in favor of Bivol. It was so close that you couldn’t rightfully call it a robbery. It was so close that if you squinted you might see it a different way through multiple viewings. Turki Alalshikh — the Saudi Arabian Santa Claus of the boxing world, who doubles as the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority — has ordered up a dozen more rounds between the two, to hopefully bring resolution to the case.
If you like a technical fight, where fighter IQ comes into play and the depth of the skill sets are defined the deeper the fight goes, this one will deliver. Bivol has the punching power, while the 40-year-old Beterbiev solves human beings the way Bobby Fischer did grandmasters of the chess world. Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) brings a sort of classical flare to the maelstrom of a boxing match, and it can be a thing of beauty to watch him work. As with all beautiful things, there’s an underlying cruelty in his nature.
Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) is just a killer. The beard rarely bends to a smile, and in the decade before his encounter with Bivol, he had scored knockouts of everyone he faced. If there’s an interesting footnote to this rematch, it’s that neither fighter was particularly happy with the first encounter.
Bivol thought he didn’t perform well in there. He didn’t like the roulette aspects in which he engaged more than he should, and he didn’t feel he played to his advantages. And even though Beterbiev won, it wasn’t emphatic enough for his taste. Forward pressure is his one mode, and Bivol largely held him in check the first time through.
Wow, so there’s a lot at stake?
There is. And an extra dangling carrot for Beterbiev might be a fight with David Benavidez, which would be a wild affair between two of the most aggressive fighters in the light heavyweight division.
Of course, Bivol can tune out that talk by tuning up Beterbiev as he advances. This fight is a literal coin flip. Vegas has it just about even.
The bottom line: These days it’s easy to fall in love with brawlers, but this is the kind of fight that can make you fall in love with boxing.
OK, sounds like a real chess match. What if I just want to see big dudes throw hands?
Oh, you’re in luck, because the “real” main event might be the heavyweight clash between IBF champion Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker.
Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) has been accused of being the sweetest fellow in the sweet science, as the New Zealander always has a pleasant word for anyone he happens upon. That’s what makes the incredible run he’s been on such a feel-good story in boxing, landing him in golden opportunity to not only win back a heavyweight world title (in this case, Dubois’ IBF belt), but to potentially punch his ticket for a massive payday against the division’s reigning king, Usyk.
Of course, if that’s the case the opposite must be true as well. Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) is gambling big time by standing in the Samoan torpedo’s way at a time when he’s already earned his unifying shot at Usyk. Yet if there’s anything his last fight against Anthony Joshua made clear, it’s that Dubois believes in himself unconditionally.
Wait, Anthony Joshua? I’ve heard of him!
Oh, brother. If you didn’t see what Dubois did to Joshua in front of 90,000 frothy Londoners at Wembley Stadium last September, do yourself a favor. His fifth-round knockout was one of the single greatest performances in 2024 across combat sports, as well as one of the most shocking.
And it should’ve put any lingering notions that he doesn’t have the heart to compete at the highest level to bed. A great many fans and boxing pundits saw Dubois as a quitter after he suffered that loss (and a shattered orbital) against Joe Joyce in 2020. His answer to those allegations has been nothing short of awesome, and thought he isn’t exactly teeming with charisma he makes up for it with raw power.
Dubois hasn’t needed to hear the judge’s scorecards in his past 15 fights, while Parker is more methodical in how he breaks an opponent. He sees Dubois as a bit of an overachiever. It helps that Parker feels reborn. Working with George Lockhart and Andy Lee has helped him gain perspective as closes in on the IBF belt, far more than he has at 25 years old when he beat Andy Ruiz to win his first major title.
The bottom line: The heavyweight division in boxing is a fun place right now, and you’ll see when these two start swinging at each other. The only bad thing is that, with both fighters so likable through these big runs, one of them has to lose.
Cool, cool. So what else?
Well, if there’s been one disappointment with this colossal boxing card, it’s that “Kid Austin,” the undefeated Floyd Schofield, had to drop out of his WBC lightweight title fight with Shakur Stevenson. There was a sneaking feeling out there that Schofield would play the role of dark horse well in his fight with Stevenson, and there was just enough bad blood between the two to give it some fun dimensions.
So in steps England’s Jack Padley (15-0, 4 KOs) for a chance of a lifetime. On just three days’ notice he gets the chance to pull off one of the greatest upsets of the year as he stands in against Stevenson as a 14-to-1 underdog. Impossible task you say? Especially on nearly no-notice for a fight that’s thousands of miles from home? Hey, the old maxims stand in boxing more than anywhere else — no risk, no reward.
So this Stevenson guy is that good?
At just 27, Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) is one of the best American fighters going — even if people have criticized some of his more recent fights against Artem Harutyunyan and Edwin De Los Santos.
There’s a big appetite to see him in there against the likes of a Gervonta “Tank” Davis, who has his own obstacle to get through in the form of Lamont Roach on March 1 in Brooklyn. To get to those kinds of challenges, he’ll need to remind everyone what he can do against Padley. Should he be forced to labor in this one, you know his critics will come out in full throat.
The bottom line: Tune in to see Shakur do work. There’s a reason he’s on the tip of everyone’s tongue in the boxing world.
Ya know, I like this “bottom line” gimmick.
Hey thanks! Felt catchy.
Anyway, what’s the one fight you’re eyeballing most here?
I’m glad you asked. Sound the low-key banger alarm, because Vergil Ortiz vs. Israil Madrimov is a delight.
In an ideal world, this fight for Ortiz’s WBC interim super welterweight title would’ve featured Jaron “Boots” Ennis against Ortiz, yet it didn’t come to pass. Philly’s Ennis isn’t making the leap to light middleweight just yet, but Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) is the most dangerous kind of consolation. He was supposed to be little more than mincemeat in gloves for his title defense against Crawford back in August, but he ended up giving one of the world’s pound-for-pound best all he could handle.
If Crawford was still buzzing after showcasing on Errol Spence Jr., Madrimov sobered him up with a quickness.
