Usyk parts ways with Riyadh Season; Wilder fight on PBC?

It’s not a contradiction. He makes some money back from his events from the gate, PPV and sponsors then uploads it a few days later for added publicity. Doesn’t mean he’s doing it for charity. The Saudi’s just bought EA for 55 billion. As I said they can continue in boxing as long as they want. I doubt Turki and the Saudi’s have even spent 2 billion in boxing which is absolutely nothing to them. 1 billion of that was a 13% stake in DAZN.

 

Makes sense for usyk, who else is there to fight and he gets to fight in America. Plus it’s a very easy fight, and casuals won’t know how bad wilder is now.

it’s a better fight than Jake Paul vs AJ anyway

 

Definitely for the US market.

 

So, the argument you have made is: "They own a part of DAZN, their spending on boxing is minuscule in relative terms, and their main goal is publicity".
Then why, why would they put everything behind a paywall?
Its obvious that their budget has a limit. I repeat myself: Turki wanted to end PPV´s abut instead they introduced a new PPV model, obviously this is a financial decision.

And looking at things from your lens is ever more befuddling when looking at the Canelo vs Crawford fight on DAZN. You said that Turki bankrolled it, yet it was not on PPV. Funny how they can give away for free a major even on Netflix, but not on DAZN.

 

Doesn’t matter how much you hate Turki he’s going to be in boxing a long time whether you like it or not. If Saudi money was “drying up” they wouldn’t be making record investments in gaming companies.

 

"Hey, look at all these expensive cars in the city center! The economy is booming!"

Go and read up on Saudi´s downsizing their spending on mega projects. Read up on what the Saudi´s need global oil prices to be to fund their government as it operates currently. You are ignoring key elements in this problem, and now you are equating me as a Turki hater. I dont hate him, I actually really enjoyed his entry into the sport and I bought a lot of the early PPV´s. Heck, I was even exited for his own UFC style league that they were proposing.
But I can see the writing on the wall. I am absolutely certain that they will keep their current business model and nothing will come of the Saudi league. TKO boxing will only run if Paramount finances it, and Riyadh will merely be a sponsor of it, maybe at most a part owner.

 

Maybe Saudi will collapse in 50 years or maybe it won’t. But until then Turki will still be a major player in world boxing.

 

Usyk has an obvious conflict of interests with turki .

Usyk,s only priority is to stay undefeated on paper and with his current age he can achieve this only by ducking one opponent after another and accepting only fights where he is sure to win .

Turki wants a true challange and a real sporting performance with top opponents facing each other .

There is no more room for usyk at riyadh season.

 

seems like a duck move tbh if you dont wanna fight the next top guys just let the belts go and go fight who you want

 

Saudi Arabia has a massive sovereign wealth fund worth over $1 trillion

They're investing abroad in foreign companies for exactly the reason you outlined above, oil revenue is slowing down and investing in foreign companies to yield annual dividends is just good, pragmatic business strategy.

Investment wise they have been very smart with their acquisitions.

Dubai is in a similar position also, their GDP from oil is miniscule compared to all the money they make from tourism, foreign investment and providing financial services for money launderers and the like......

 

Yes, and that wealth fund is struggling right now, as it now has to cover for financial losses from the low global oil prices.
People think that the Saudi´s have bottomless pockets, but they dont. They will cut back on spending if need be, and already have. At current rate they will eventually cut back on boxing too, because its a weal link in their chain.

Like I said in an earlier post, the Saudi´s wont go ahead with their plans for a Saudi boxing league. They will continue their current model, which means that a lot of fights will be outside of Saudi due to financial reasons, even tho the idea is to get butts into Saudi seats.
Eventually they will cut their losses. The fact that the undisputed heavyweight champion is leaving them says a lot.

 

I agree with your boxing statement

They have overspent and got very little back for it. Overpaying for Canelo and getting lacklustre performances would have been a bitter pill to swallow

Not captiulating to Usyk and Wilder is a step in the right direction

Intact, the best fight they ever put on was Beterbiev v Bivol 1 and 2 and Top Rank/Matchroom didn't even make real efforts to promote it. Instead they let Team Turki do all the heavy lifting for them both....

That too would have left a bitter taste in the Saudis.....

"Why are we spending this much money and these idiots aren't pulling their weight?"

 

Wilder was a good draw at the Barclay Center but I'm not sure his star shines so bright anymore. I'm selfishly hoping they make the fight for that venue so I can go

 

It's amazing how Usyk's beaten only 3 properly ranked heavyweights (all from UK, only one of them unbeaten - and him (Fury) a bit discredited in previous fight) and 1 UK gate-keeper, and this forum is full of fan-girls saying "he's done it all now, he can do whatever he likes".

Usyk since moving up:
2020 Chisora - plodding gate-keeper, not top 10
2021 Joshua - champion/belt-holder, already beaten by Ruiz badly 3 fights before
2022 Joshua - rematch clause
2023 Dubois - not ranked in top 10 by anyone except corrupt WBA
2024 Fury - champion, coming off a worst ever bum performance
2024 Fury - rematch
2025 Dubois - contender now, and 'belt holder' since Usyk gave up IBF belt

6 years, 3 ranked opponents, 1 gate-keeper.

And, yes, Kabayel, Wardley, unbeaten, prime contenders, right deserve shots as much as any of the previous challengers, and certainly well above monumentally 'shot' old Wilder (as do about 30 or 40 other heavyweighst probably)

Usyk is the best heavyweight since Klitschko, and very possibly the best 38-year-old heavyweight ever in history. But he's hardly 'cleaned up' the field. It's pathetic that guys here are giving him a pass for deciding to duck worthy challenges now.