BATTLE OF THE BADDEST

We are just a day away from the opening of Riyadh Season 2023, and the fanciful match-up between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou. 

It’s time to ask, how did we get here?

Above all, it is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s desire to host the highest quality of sports and entertainment that has landed us of this wildly absurd spectacle. 

Of course, their financial power lends a generous hand. 

Boxing has moved into an era of unsustainability. Fighters are now earning more than ever, which makes the negotiating table a problematic place to be. 

With the big boys particularly, if you want them moving, they are wanting paying. 

That’s why it is only right we embrace this influx of state-sponsored cash, in exchange for the fights that we actually want to see. 

Let’s take the undisputed clash between Fury and his three-belt rival Oleksandr Usyk as an example. A fight impaired by ego. A fight hampered by greed. A fight that looked two eternities away. 

Not anymore. Signed, sealed and, hopefully, to be delivered pending disaster. 

If these guys say jump, some will say how high. If these guys say fight, Fury will say where and when. This weekend seems a small price to pay for what lies ahead. 

That small price being £21.95. A surprisingly easy one to swallow knowing our American friends are paying a spec under the $80.00 mark. Ouch. 

I would say it’s always wise to be mindful of paying for an event sold largely on the basis of its ‘spectacle’. For those in attendance in Riyadh, it will no doubt be a night they never forget. 

But for those on the sofa, a lightshow and a booming atmosphere isn’t quite as much of a sales point. The main interest of the majority of boxing fans is peaked at what we see in the ring. 

I fear very little. 

And that is of no disrespect to Ngannou, undeniably an ace of his discipline. However, this is a man we have seen do barely four sessions on the pads, taking on our generations’ greatest heavyweight. 

In fact, Ngannou may well be the least capable heavyweight fighter on the card. 

I guess there lies the intrigue. When he stands eye-to-eye, glove-to-glove with the Gypsy King, what will he do to make something happen? 

He can’t kick, he can’t elbow, he can’t choke, and what he can punch with is smothered by a 10oz glove as opposed to a 4oz mitt. This goes beyond a miracle. 

There is the added storyline of Ngannou being trained by Mike Tyson, which will likely be rendered irrelevant once he is dwarfed by a floating Fury. 

So, as Ngannou swings for the hills, hoping to land with even a millimetre of glove - all whilst Fury dances like a string puppet - be sure to remember that the Usyk fight is coming. 

If ever it doesn’t, it means that the disaster I touched upon earlier really has happened. 

If that is the case, then don’t wake me up. 

Oscar Bevis