27-year-old British boxer Daniel Dubois knocked out his 34-year-old compatriot Anthony Joshua in the IBF heavyweight boxing championship match in London on Saturday.
The match was hyped long in advance as Britain’s biggest boxing match. The match set an audience record in post-war British history: 96,000 spectators. At the same time, the match was the largest sporting event at the iconic Wembley Stadium in terms of audience.
Many British spectators were startled when the national anthem of Saudi Arabia was played during the night of the six boxing matches.
Saudi Arabia has invested an estimated five billion pounds in sports – such as golf’s LIV tour, Formula One, football and boxing nights – from 2021.
Saudi Arabia has been accused of sports laundering, that is, the country tries to divert attention from its human rights violations through sports.
Saudi Arabia is trying to create a new country brand and get rid of its heavily oil-dependent economy.
Significant reforms have been made in the country in recent years, but on the other hand, executions and arrests and torture of critics of the regime have increased.
Famous boxing promoters Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn staunchly defend Saudi Arabia’s involvement in their matches.
Money from Riyadh
Dubois and Joshua’s boxing night was financed by the Riyadh Season organization. It was founded in 2019 to organize entertainment, cultural and sports events in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
The organization has organized major heavyweight boxing matches in the football stadium in Riyadh: For example Tyson Fury’s and Oleksandr Usykin meeting in May 2024 and in December 2023 the evening where Anthony Joshua and Otto Wallin mixed Deontay Wilder and Joseph Parker.
Recent conquests of the capital of Saudi Arabia include, for example, snooker and the Spanish and Italian supercups in football.
The boxing greats seen at Wembley were part of Saudi Arabia’s strong foray into the sports market, where no money is wasted.
Saturday’s big night at Wembley was organized by Riyadh Season and Turk Alalshikhwho is an adviser to the royal court of Saudi Arabia and the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, which controls the country’s entertainment business.
Promoter Frank Warren raved that Saudi Arabia’s support “made” the Dubois-Joshua fight possible.
– Why is there criticism of this? A small minority complain about the national anthem that was played.
Warren emphasized that similar events cannot be implemented without financial input.
– His Excellency’s (Alalshikh) love for boxing made the event happen. Did you hear a fan at the event complaining?
Riyadh Season works with Warren and Hearn’s organizations to organize events in Saudi Arabia, but the Wembley event was the first product of the collaboration in Britain.
Hearn stated that with the money Alalshikh has pumped into the sport, he was “more than entitled to hear the Saudi national anthem”.
– It’s a sign of respect for the work that went into creating this event – and 20 seconds, is that a big deal? He could have organized this in his home country, and everyone would be amazed that “another big match in Riyadh”.
– Well, you know what? I play the Saudi national anthem at every single event if they want me to.
According to Hearn, Saudi Arabia’s participation had no particular agenda, but a passion for creating great events.
– Riyadh Season, like any sponsor, wants to raise its profile and create a brand that is seen worldwide.
Warren, who works behind Dubois, echoed the comments of Hearn, who is promoting Joshua.
According to Warren, Alalshikh had only been listening to British fans who had wanted to see the Riyadh Season event.
The Dubois-Joshua match was openly used as an advertisement for Saudi Arabia, and several Saudi-themed events were held at Wembley.
Also the editor’s commotion
As an additional nuance, criticism arose in Britain that the editor of the Daily Telegraph newspaper Oliver Brown was not allowed into the match. This had previously written an opinion piece criticizing Saudi Arabia’s involvement in boxing.
According to Brown, after his text, he had received a message from the event organization wondering if he didn’t want to attend the match. Brown had replied that he would be happy to come and would also like to offer the organizers the opportunity to comment on his article.
He had since received an email confirming his accreditation. However, according to Brown’s account, he was told at the stadium that his accreditation had been denied and nothing could be done about it.
Promoter Hearn commented that the Saudi organizers were not responsible for organizing the accreditation. According to Hearn, the reason for the unclear situation was only a lack of space.
The FA, which owns the operator of Wembley Stadium, expressed its disappointment and urged journalists to get in touch if they have experienced or are experiencing similar problems at events at the stadium.
Sources: BBC, The Guardian