A journalist explores the lack of evident boxing buzz in Riyadh amidst the hype surrounding the Usyk-Fury rematch, highlighting the city's strong football culture.
Oleksandr Usyk ’s rematch with Tyson Fury is big business, but has it captured the interest of Riyadh’s citizens? A week in Riyadh, at least to an outsider, is an often ghostly experience.
Unless you’re up close and talking to the actual fighters, Olekandrs Usyk and Tyson Fury, or seeing them step off a parked jumbo jet to make their outrageously grand arrivals in front of a small group of local dignitaries, chattering YouTube outlets and jaded reporters, boxing feels like a mysterious rumour from the other side of the world. It’s hard to gauge how many of the seven million people who live in this vast and teeming city are even aware that Usyk will defend his world heavyweight titles against Fury on Saturday night, in a rematch of their bout in Riyadh just seven months ago. I have spent hours this week in the company of various Uber drivers, as we crisscross the city, and the chattier men tend to ask two questions: where are you from? Why are you here? My first answer has elicited some pretty informed insights into the surprising rise of Chelsea this season, the inexplicable loss of Arsenal’s creativity and the slow implosion of Manchester City. It says something for the Premier League’s global sway that there is such knowledge of their teams – but it also shows immediate evidence of a real football culture in Saudi Arabia. They do not seem to care too much either for Neymar, recovering from an injury. But when they learn that I am in town for the boxing, this strange word usually causes confusion. Eventually, a pair of bunched hands are raised to denote old-fashioned fisticuffs
BOXING UK SAUDI ARABIA SPORTS TYSON FURY OLEKSANDR USYK
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