Gervonta Davis and Devin Haney are the latest names to be targeted for fights in Saudi Arabia in the near future.
Less than six months after entering the sport, His Excellency Turki Alalshikh (chairman of Saudi’s General Entertainment Authority – GEA) has made a serious impact.
The first two shows backed by the GEA have seen Tyson Fury, Francis Ngannou, Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder all travel to fight in Riyadh, supported by several other top names from the sport.
Fury will now fight Oleksandr Usyk there on February 17, and this will be followed shortly afterwards by AJ vs Ngannou on March 8.
And the plans don’t stop there as Alalshikh has made it clear that he wants to stage Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol in June.
Now, in an interview with DAZN, he has spoken in depth about his plans and revealed that Davis and Haney are two names he wants to bring to Saudi.
“I want him [Davis] and I send message now to Al Haymon [Davis’ advisor] – let’s do the job brother,” Alalshikh said.
“I want to see Haney in my country and I send message now to him. I will try to do it in 2024.”
Asked if he would like to match them against one another, Alalshikh indeed gave a nod of approval.
However, he is not the first person to stage big-time boxing in Saudi Arabia.
Previously, Skill Challenge Entertainment hosted fights such as the Joshua vs Andy Ruiz rematch and the Joshua vs Usyk rematch in the country.
They also staged Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury in Diriyah last year.
There won’t be any further such YouTuber boxing events moving forwards though, as Alalshikh is adamant that he’s a boxing purist.
“Please, we don’t want any YouTuber fights again,” he insited.
“I want fighters, this is what I support. For me, inside my heart, I want the fighters.”
