Saudi Arabia and boxing: a partnership that emerged recently but already seems unbreakable. The influx of Arab capital into the boxing world has brought significant changes, encountering few obstacles along the way. Almost like magic, promoters who previously acted like cat and dog have started working side by side under the patronage of the now-famous Saudi official Turki Alalshikh. A growing number of fights are being staged in the unconventional venue of Riyadh. So, how should we interpret this “Arab turn” in boxing?
Was Boxing Really on the Verge of Dying?
If we were to listen to all those who have declared boxing dead since the early 1900s, we’d have to conclude that our beloved sport has more lives than the protagonist of Russell Mulcahy’s film Highlander.
While it’s true that the Riyadh Season events have featured fights of the highest caliber, claiming that none of these could have happened without Saudi Arabia’s contribution seems an exaggeration. We cannot ignore the various high-profile fights we’ve enjoyed in the years preceding this so-called “Arab turn.”
A year and a half ago, Terence Crawford and Errol Spence faced off to unify the welterweight world titles. A few years earlier, the best super-lightweights in the world clashed in a series of thrilling bouts. Going even further back, we find the unforgettable WBSS cruiserweight tournament and the epic middleweight battles between Gennady Golovkin and “Canelo” Alvarez.
Moreover, it’s not entirely true that the resources handled by Turki Alalshikh can always work miracles. Recently, the failed negotiations to organize Vergil Ortiz vs. Jaron Ennis demonstrated that the unwillingness of one of the participants will continue to be an insurmountable obstacle.
Was the Past Better? Nostalgia for the Unified Title
The past often inspires nostalgia. Many boxing fans long for the days when each weight class had only one champion and are thrilled by Turki Alalshikh’s promise to create a “Super League” capable of overpowering the current sanctioning bodies.
However, let me offer a couple of examples showing how entrusting every decision to a single organization, granting it absolute power over purses and opportunities for every boxer globally, can also have negative consequences: the cases of Ezzard Charles and Jake LaMotta.
Charles is regarded by experts as the greatest light-heavyweight of all time but never won the world title in that weight-class! From the post-war period to 1949, he amassed 30 wins against just one loss (later avenged) but had to seek glory in the heavyweight division because champion Gus Lesnevich had protectors too powerful to force him into a fight.
Jake LaMotta, one of the best middleweights ever, had to endure the humiliation of deliberately losing to Billy Fox, as he was assured that only by doing so would he get the chance to fight for the world title…
The Tragicomic Figure of Turki Alalshikh
I hope what I am about to write will not be interpreted as a personal attack on the high-ranking Saudi official, for whom I harbor no resentment. Only once has he been involved in an action I found distasteful—when, owing to past conflicts, he publicly mocked Tim Tszyu after his most recent defeat.
Setting aside that lapse in judgment, I have always regarded Alalshikh as a man who performs the tasks assigned to him with diligence and passion. And for someone like me, who admires the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and believes that the quality with which we approach our work can save the world, that carries significant weight.
What makes Alalshikh’s figure either comedic or tragic—depending on one’s mood—is the obsequious attitude of many Western stakeholders, some of whom cannot write his name without prefacing it with the pompous title of “His Excellency.” Outside Saudi Arabia, this is akin to me calling myself Super Mario.
These behaviors, recently culminating in the absurd awarding of the WBC’s “Man of the Year” prize, resemble the citizens of the fictional state of Wadiya in Larry Charles’ The Dictator, who praised their leader more for his position than for his merits or qualities.
Why Not Join the Catastrophists?
Readers who have been patient enough to read this far might wonder: “If you truly believe what you’ve written, why not denounce the Saudi incursion into boxing as a global catastrophe to be fought by all means?”
The answer is simple: I feel confident that this seemingly monumental change is entirely reversible and that the boxing world has the internal antidotes to counteract its potential downsides.
If The Ring journalists—now that the historic magazine has been purchased by Turki Alalshikh—adopt an overly accommodating stance toward Riyadh Season events, alternative websites and magazines will spring up, ready to call a spade a spade. If the emerging power structure ostracizes certain boxers, managers, or promoters, the free world will create an alternative circuit to welcome the “excluded.”
Indeed, the current fragmentation of boxing organizations arose from widespread discontent with a monolithic structure and its arbitrariness. If the new power brokers manage boxing like tyrants, they will face the impact of healthy competition. The Sweet Science will continue to exist and thrive, even outside Riyadh.
The Hypocrisy of Those Who Invoke the Great Atmosphere
Years ago, a Serbian childhood friend of mine, reflecting on his many compatriots who claimed to be furious about Kosovo’s secession, bitterly remarked, “Three-quarters of them had never set foot in Kosovo before the war, and the monuments they rave about they’ve only seen in photographs.”
Boxing fans lamenting the lack of electrifying atmosphere at events in Saudi Arabia remind me of those Serbs my friend spoke of. Most of them wouldn’t bother attending a live boxing event even if it were held just half an hour from their home, yet they’ve suddenly become staunch defenders of “homegrown” boxing.
Individual hypocrisies aside, however, the disappointment linked to outsourcing the sport seems more justified when expressed by British fans. In the UK, the ability to draw massive crowds to boxing events and create an electric atmosphere has been well preserved.
This is less common in the USA, where audience attendance is generally more modest, and spectators often arrive just before the main event, leaving the undercard sparsely attended. Consider that only 5,168 people witnessed the first fight between Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo live—one of the most sensational matches of all time—filling less than half the capacity of the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas!
The Ethical Dilemma: A Private Matter
Any adult with a basic understanding of the world knows that in Saudi Arabia, human rights are routinely violated, and the gruesome murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is just one example of the regime’s suppression of dissent. However, how this should influence the behavior of boxing people is, in my opinion, a private matter, for which each individual answers only to their own conscience.
As a passionate soccer fan, I chose to entirely boycott the 2022 World Cup held in Qatar. I did this out of respect for the countless worker-slaves who died building the event’s stadiums at breakneck speed, but I didn’t scold my friends who enjoyed the spectacle, shun them, or look down on them.
It would be easy now to point fingers at anyone collaborating with Turki Alalshikh’s projects in any capacity, condemning them as supposedly immoral. Yet I, too, could be called out for purchasing some of the Riyadh Season Pay-Per-Views, contributing in my small way to the success of this “new era.” And my potential accusers would likely have their own compromises to account for.
This blame game is not part of who I am or my culture. I happily leave preaching to priests and moralizers, of whom the world already has an abundance.