Joshua – Wallin, Wilder – Parker, fights of Miller, Hrgovic, Fa and Sanchez. The boxing evening in Riyadh is the biggest event of the year. It’s a shame that Fury “leaked” the fight with Usik

Riyadh is the fighting capital of the world at the end of the year. In October, Saudi Arabia hosted the fight of the current WBC heavyweight title holder Tyson Fury and ex-UFC champion Francis Ngannou according to the rules of boxing, and on the penultimate Saturday of the year will hold a large-scale boxing evening, in which they will immediately take part three former world champions in the Royal Division, six boxers from the TOP 10 rankings and several high-profile prospects. A heavyweight unification fight between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk could have been the crowning glory of this event, but the Gypsy King spoiled everything by having a sloppy fight with Ngannou and requiring time to recover.

Perhaps the disruption of the Usyk-Fury fight is the only fly in the ointment for the organizers. For the rest, we again pay tribute to the scale, money and ability to negotiate of the representatives of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The boxing evening, dubbed “Judgment Day,” brought together an incredible card. And even though there is only one recognizable current champion – Dmitry Bivol, who enters the ring with the flag of Kyrgyzstan, the list of names is truly impressive.

Let’s start with the main thing. For the first time, two former world heavyweight champions – Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder – will enter the same ring. Yes, for now they will not fight each other, but the upcoming evening is a preview of their planned head-to-head fight for next year. Of course, provided that both win their fights on December 23. And each of them has difficult opponents.

Joshua will meet in the ring with the Swede Otto Wallin, who gave Fury a good beating and then confidently dealt with Gassiev. Wallin is top 5 in the heavyweight division rankings, second only to two champions, Joshua and Dubois, who has one defeat in 27 fights. Plus, the Swede is an extremely inconvenient opponent for Joshua: a left-hander, a tempo player, and even with good technique and excellent grip.

Wilder will meet in the ring with another fighter who held the heavyweight title – Joseph Parker. The New Zealander has lost three of his 36 professional fights. Moreover, all to the British: Joshua, White and Joyce. In all anthropometric indicators, plus in terms of punching power, Parker is inferior to Wilder, but there are a couple of important points. First, Parker’s character. Secondly, age: he is seven years younger than Wilder. Thirdly, condition: Parker had his last fight in October, Wilder last entered the ring more than a year ago.

Daniel Dubois will try to get revenge after the defeat. Moreover, his opponent was identified as the powerful puncher Jarrell Miller (22 knockouts in 26 victorious fights). After serving a suspension for taking illegal drugs, Miller won three fights, in the last of which he defeated the brutal Australian Lucas Browne ahead of schedule. The fight with Miller is a test of Dubois’ character. If the Briton, who is still ranked quite highly, fails, Daniel’s great career can be put to rest.

Filip Hrgovic, who has no defeats in the professional ring and is a potential opponent for Usik, will meet with the experienced Australian (45 fights, 41 wins) Mark De Mori. To appreciate De Mori’s experience, it is enough to say that in 2016 he fought with David Haye, the defeat from whom remains the last in his career. Yes, Mark, who is on a streak of 11 victories in a row over fighters of the second, third, or even fourth echelons, is hardly capable of an upset in a fight with Hrgovic, but it can cause certain problems.

Well, one of the most promising prospects in the division – 31-year-old Cuban Frank Sanchez (23 wins, 16 knockouts) – will meet in the ring with New Zealander Junior Fa (20-2, 11 KOs). Fa suffered defeats from Brown and Parker, and now he will test the strength of Sanchez, for whom the fight with the New Zealander will be the biggest in his career.

New Zealander Jay Opetaya (23-0, 18 KOs) decided to renounce the IBF title altogether for the sake of a fight with the undefeated Briton Ellis Zorro (17-0, 7 KOs). The International Boxing Federation insisted on Opetaia’s rematch with Briedis, but Jay chose a boxing evening in Saudi Arabia and big money.

Speaking of money. The boxers’ fees are not officially reported, however, according to boxing insiders, the prize money of the evening’s two headliners – Joshua and Wilder – will amount to more than $10 million. And broadcasting a boxing evening in Riyadh on PPV will cost about $40. There is no doubt that if the Fury-Usyk fight had been part of this evening, the fees for the participants would have been even higher, and the cost of broadcasting would have been higher. But even without the British and Ukrainian, the show is worth not missing.