HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, Minister of Sports, crowned Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk with the World Heavyweight Boxing title after he defeated British rival Anthony Joshua by two of three judges at the Red Sea. Fight”, which took place this morning in Jeddah. With over 10,000 spectators in the gym in King Abdullah, Jeddah, millions of people around the world watched it on broadcast channels. Usek managed to retain his WBA Super, IBF, WBO and IBO titles, which he won in the first meeting, which took place in September 2021 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London in front of 60,000 spectators, before claiming Joshua. To meet again, for the first time in heavyweight competition history since 1999 AD, Usyk also added an additional title to his titles, which is the Ring Magazine title that boxer Tyson Fury relinquished earlier this week.
On this occasion, His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal, Minister of Sports and Chairman of the Olympic and Paralympic Committee of Saudi Arabia, said: “We are proud to be hosting this grand global event for the second time, which unites one of our goals, aimed at making the Kingdom the host of world championships, which confirms – and thank God – the unprecedented interest that the sports sector is receiving from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud – God protect him – and the direct support of His Royal His Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister – may God protect him – is something We see at every sporting event that takes place in the Kingdom.”
He added: “I congratulate boxer Oleksandr Usyk on his victory in the Red Sea fight and wish his opponent Joshua good luck.”
The event kicked off with a series of side bouts featuring over 200 media professionals from and outside the Kingdom, 15 different nationalities representing over 100 boxing channels, newspapers and websites. technique in the first round, just one minute and five seconds later, and a native of Great Britain and Somalia, Ramla Ali, managed to defeat her rival from the Dominican Republic, Cristal Garcia.
In other fights, Bulgarian Traicho Georgiev defeated Emirati boxer Rashid Belhasa, Ukrainian Daniel Lapin defeated Slovakian Joseph Gorko, Briton Ben Whitaker defeated Croat Petar Nosic, and American Andrew Tapetty defeated his compatriot James Wilson after Team Wilson decided to leave.
Swede Badu Jack defeated American Richard Rivera by a decision of two judges out of three, while Jordanian Badr Al-Samrin managed to defeat Azerbaijani Fuad Tarverdi by TKO in the fourth and final round, keeping his record undefeated.
Britain’s Callum Smith scored a resounding victory by knocking out French opponent Mathieu Baudelaire in the fourth round, giving Smith a shot at the WBC super middleweight title.
After 12 rounds of the marathon, Croatian Filip Hergovic defeated China’s Zhang Zili by a three-judge collective decision and got a chance to fight for the IBF world heavyweight title.
It is worth noting that hosting this fight in the Kingdom is among the objectives of the Ministry of Sports and the Saudi Arabian Boxing Federation to achieve the Kingdom’s strategic goals of continuing to host the most important and biggest international sporting events as a global destination. to host such major world competitions, in addition to a variety of events and programs.
