There’s one reason – and one reason only – why boxing promoters at the elite level have turned their backs on the United States and the UK and made Saudi Arabia the new epicentre of their sport: cold, hard cash.
The likes of Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have spent years building fanbases on both sides of the Atlantic, selling out the box office at venues like the MGM Grand and Wembley Stadium.
But their fans can no longer watch them fight in person – most simply won’t have the means to afford flights and accommodation out to the Middle East.
While boxing as a sport loses out as a result of the shift, the fighters themselves are very much winning – the huge fees paid by the Saudi aristocracy ensure Fury will become boxing’s first billionaire this summer.
Winning... At Any Cost
On May 18, the Gypsy King will appear in the first undisputed heavyweight clash in 25 years against Oleksandr Usyk.
And according to the sports betting UK, he will have his hands full – Usyk heads into the bout as the 4/5 favourite.
Some sports betting guides will be happy to talk up the chances of Fury, however – he is a generational talent, with the boxing skill of a welterweight but the physical dimensions of a rather sizeable heavyweight; he stands 6ft 9in tall, boasting a reach of more than two metres.
The doubts about the Englishman’s form came in his debut fight on Saudi Arabian soil when he turned up at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh overweight and seemingly disinterested ahead of an exhibition contest against MMA star Francis Ngannou.
That almost cost Fury his unbeaten status, with Ngannou knocking the WBC champion to the mat and left feeling unfortunate to be on the wrong end of a split points decision.
You suspect Fury won’t make the same mistake against Usyk on May 18; a fight he is set to walk away from at least £100 million richer.
Money, Money, Money
The chief behind boxing’s Saudi switch, Turki Alalshikh, has described Fury as a ‘beautiful diamond’, revealing that he wants the Gypsy King to fight ‘five to ten’ more times in the country before hanging up his gloves.
If he does, Fury would easily pass the billion-pound mark as far as his career earnings are concerned.
It would make him the richest boxer of all time, surpassing even Floyd Mayweather – a man whose nickname is ‘Money’ – on the list of most liquid pugilists.
Mayweather’s career ended before the Saudi Arabian gold rush, but he still earned around £300 million in purse money from his stint in the ring – since retiring, he has continued to rake in cash courtesy of exhibition fights and a series of property investments.
Fury and Mayweather are by far and away the most lucrative boxers in history. George Foreman has made his fortune outside of the ring via the cooking apparatus that bears his name, while Manny Pacquiao – whose 2015 fight with ‘Money’ is the highest-selling PPV in history – still ‘only’ has a net worth of around £100 million.
So Fury is taking the earning potential of boxing into all new stratospheres… albeit at the expense of his loyal fanbase back in the UK.
