His excellency Turki Alalshikh is the man responsible for this recent boxin revival he has put together with his Riyadh Season events in Saudi Arabia. The most recent fight was arguably the most important boxing eventt he has put together, it was reported that it sold an excess of 1.5 pay-per-view sales. it was the Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk fight. But despite these results, Alalshikh still came out short with the fight’s finances. The chairman of Saudi Arabia’s entertainment authority reportedly lost $27 million despite making over $50 million from PPV sales alone. All of this information comes from a recent report made by the folks at ESPN, who made a detailed explanation of how his excellency lost all that money despite how successful the event was.

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Other sources of revenue where the event did gangbusters was from sponsors, they got a cool $40 million from that alone. Plus, the ticket sales attracted an extra $3 million but that still wasn’t enough to even come close to

break even. If we make an addition to all of those numbers, we come up with $93 million of revenue that the event generated in total. However, the final cost of this event was a staggering $120 million. This translates into a whopping $27 million deficit that left Turki Alalshikh with absutely no earnings from this. But it’s probably accurate to think this is not going to prevent Alalshikh from making more events of this nature down the line.

There are not many promoters like his excellency, who can see the value of putting together an event that will make them lose money but it will deliver a historic moment. That fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk is already one of the greatest heavyweight fights in boxing history. Turki Alalshikh understands that his name and his country will be linked to this event forever. We still have the rematch coming up and judging on these results, Alalshikh will probably come into it knowing he may lose millions again. But none of that matters to a country where they make money from oil production.

MMA Fighting has Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk live round-by-round updates for one of the most anticipated boxing fights of the year on Saturday night at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The main event is expected to begin around 5 p.m. ET on DAZN and PPV.com pay-per-view. Check out our Fury vs. Usyk results page to find out what happened on the undercard.

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Fury (34-0-1) is one of the most decorated heavyweight champions in recent history, but had an underwhelming performance against lineal UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou when the two fought each other this past October. Fury eked out a split decision victory over the boxing debutant, despite getting dropped in the third round. Now he faces a considerably more experienced opponent in Usyk.

Usyk (21-0) is the 2012 Olympic gold medalist in boxing. He turned professional in 2013 and has been dominant since, becoming the first (and thus far only) undisputed cruiserweight champion in the four-belt era. Usyk then moved up to heavyweight, where he twice defeated Anthony Joshua to claim his current titles. Most recently, Usyk defended his belts with a ninth-round knockout of Daniel Dubois this past August.

Ukrainian champion goes into the unifying title bout against Briton Fury motivated to fight for his war-torn country.

Oleksandr Usyk may be the reigning WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight world champion but to many the Ukrainian is the underdog going into his long-awaited unifying title fight with Tyson Fury in Riyadh on Saturday.

Size matters, it seems, with southpaw Usyk conceding 15 centimetres (6 inches) in height to the 2.06-metre (6 foot 9 inch) Fury, 18cm in reach, and close to 22kg (49lbs) in weight.

And yet, he is not perturbed.

“To win this, I don’t need to be heavy, I need to be fast, and quick,” he told The Ring magazine in February just before the Fury fight was postponed after the Briton picked up a cut in training.

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“You never see a fat wolf in the forest.”

It is easy to see Usyk as the lean wolf, cunning, quick and ruthlessly effective.

His perfect record of 21 wins and no defeats as a pro, 14 of those inside the distance, speaks for itself.

And apart from those three heavyweight belts, he can also look back on a career that brought him Olympic gold in London in 2012 and the undisputed cruiserweight championship of the world.

‘Usyk is not fighting for himself’

The war in Ukraine, which followed Russia’s invasion in February 2022, has ensured that.

It gave Usyk an extra dimension when he faced Anthony Joshua in Jeddah in August that year, almost a year after he had taken the Briton’s titles in London.

“In the ninth round I realised that if I fall now, the spirit of the fighters who defend our country will also fall,” he told AFP news agency.

“I didn’t box for myself, I boxed for all those who defend the country.”

Eighteen months on from that fight and the Russians continue to wage war on Ukraine, adding fuel to the Usyk fire.

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In some ways, it marks a shift in perception of the 37-year-old who also beat Daniel Dubois in Poland last August.

Born in the Crimean town of Simferopol, he was accused by many Ukrainians of sitting on the fence over Russia’s annexation of the peninsular in 2014 and castigated for saying that Russians and Ukrainians were the same people.

Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, however, the tune has changed with promoter Alexander Krassyuk saying that Usyk “is the real inspiration for Ukraine, for the guys on the front line”.

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“When he speaks, these words inspire the Ukrainian people and the soldiers to fight the enemy and to have courage,” Krassyuk told ProBox TV in August last year.

Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk is live on Saturday May 18 on Sky Sports Box Office; scroll down for booking information – how and when to book via remote or online; ways to watch; details to order via phone; Sky Glass info

The event will start at 4pm, Saturday May 18 on Sky Sports Box Office (Sky channel 491) and Sky Sports Box Office HD (Sky channel 492).

The event is priced at £24.95 for Sky customers in the UK, €27.95 for Sky [and Virgin Media] customers in the Republic of Ireland up until midnight on Friday May 17.

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Thereafter £24.95 / €27.95 across all “self-service” bookings (remote control/online) or £29.95 / €32.95 if booked via the phone (either IVR or agent) but note an additional £2 booking fee if via an agent will apply.

The event price will revert back to £24.95 / €27.95 (ROI) from midnight Saturday May 18.

Two repeat showings (full duration) will be shown at 10am and 10pm on Sunday May 19.

From Friday May 3 go to Channel 491 and press the green button to go to Sky Sports Box Office.

Alternatively from Friday May 3 you can purchase via the Sky Sports Box Office destination on Sky Q. Using your remote, navigate to Sports and then Box Office. Use the arrow buttons to select the event. Press select, and the buy screen will be displayed. Press select to confirm your order. Enter your pin if prompted.

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You’ll be charged for the event when you enter your PIN (if enabled), and the order is confirmed.

If you change your mind about the event, you’ll need to call us before the event starts. There may be a delay of 40 seconds or more behind the live event.

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Alternatively, from Friday May 3, you can purchase via your Sky remote. Just press the Box Office button on your remote, and use the arrow buttons to select the event. Press select, and the buy screen will be displayed. Press select to confirm your order. Enter your pin if prompted.

Tyson Fury fights Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship bout on May 18 live on Sky Sports Box Office; The contest has attracted worldwide attention, including the Pope himself; Mauricio Sulaiman explains why the Pontiff signed the WBC belt

We knew the Tyson Fury versus Oleksandr Usyk heavyweight world title fight was attracting worldwide attention. We didn’t realise that stretched all the way to the Vatican!

The Pope has signed and blessed the title belt that Fury and Usyk will box for on May 18.

READ MORE :Tyson Fury gives extremely weird answer about Anthony Joshua’s boxing improvements

Britain’s Fury and Ukraine’s Usyk will contest the first undisputed heavyweight title bout in 25 years, fighting for the WBC, WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight championships live on Sky Sports Box Office.

The WBC has commissioned a new title belt for the Fury vs Usyk fight, with Ukrainian and British emblems on either strap. WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman took the belt to the Pope, who blessed and signed it.

“Pope Francis has a foundation,” Sulaiman told Sky Sports. “I learned there was a programme called Football with Values. I proposed to the Pope to do Boxing with Values. So he accepted, immediately embraced boxing.

“Since that day we have been doing a lot of activations and training and going out trying to teach values through boxing with thousands of people around the world.

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The heavyweight bout has been rescheduled to take place on May 18 in Saudi Arabia

All eyes will turn to Saudi Arabia next month when heavyweights Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk meet for a hugely anticipated bout which could feature a new scoring system in a bid to avoid any controversy.

The fighters had been due to clash in February originally, but the encounter had to be postponed until May 18 after Fury suffered a “freak cut” above his eye in a sparring session as he prepared for the fight.

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WBC champion Fury will put his belt on the line against Usyk’s WBA, WBO and IBF titles to create a four-belt undisputed heavyweight champion and it bodes to be quite the fight.

Gypsy King Fury, 35, is undefeated so far in his professional boxing career, having picked up 34 wins in 35 bouts, 24 of which have been by knockout.

He only has one draw besides that, which came in December 2018 in the first of his three fights against Deontay Wilder.

Usyk, 37, is also undefeated so far in his career, with 21 victories in as many fights, 14 of these wins coming by knockout.

Clearly, unless there is a draw in the rescheduled encounter, something will have to give and it will be interesting to see how the fight in the Middle East unfolds.

With so many eyes going to be on this fight, there will naturally be a heavy focus on the judges, whose scores could end up being crucial when it comes to pinpointing a winner, should the bout go the full 12 rounds without a knockout.

Usually, there are three judges who keep scores in boxing clashes, but this could be expanded to six in a bid to avoid any controversy.

World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman has spoken of the intention, after a host of split and majority decision fights of late.

As per Boxing Scene, Sulaiman said: “The more highly skilled judges we have working together, the better.

“If you have a fight when two judges don’t have a good night, that fight is decided, 2-1, by bad cards. If that happens with six judges, the correct fighter wins, 4-2.

“We’ve had too many split decisions and majority decision fights over the last few months. This is not OK.

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“It’s easy to say judges need to be better when things go wrong, but why not bring in the top six judges in the world for a major championship fight like this – judges who have been most consistent – and let them decide these important fights?

“If not, we can have someone scoring who may have a bad night, or even be experiencing personal problems.

“Having three judges creates a very thin line between the right result and catastrophe. This is about the biggest fight in history, and controversy would be so damaging.”

UPDATE :Tyson Fury brutally told he could be disqualified in undisputed fight against Oleksandr Usyk

It would be an interesting move and might help to ease concerns some may have about judging decisions being the main talking point of the fight, rather than the action in the ring itself.

Plus, the latest on Fury’s cut eye, which belts are at stake and where the ‘Ring of Fire’ clash is taking place

Tyson Fury’s undisputed world heavyweight title fight with Oleksandr Usyk – aka the “Ring of Fire” clash – has been rearranged for May 18.

The much-hyped encounter had originally been due to take place in Saudi Arabia in February but was postponed after the Briton suffered a “freak cut” above the eye in training.

READ MORE :Derek Chisora claims he knows who Anthony Joshua is fighting next, and it’s not Tyson Fury or Oleksandr Usyk

A statement from Queensbury Promotions on X, formerly known as Twitter, read: “The undisputed heavyweight championship fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk has been rescheduled to May 18th in Riyadh.”

Fury required medical attention after suffering the injury during a sparring session.

It is the second time his planned fight with Usyk has been delayed after an initial slot in December failed to materialise.

Why was the the fight rescheduled?

The fight was postponed from its original date on February 17 to May 18 after Fury suffered a cut above his eye in sparring caused by an elbow from Agron Smakici.

Smakici tells the story of how the dreaded cut opened up above Fury’s eye that postponed the undisputed clash.

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“It was a strange day. Throughout the two weeks, I was sparring with him [Fury] we did hard sparring in the evenings but that day it was at about midday. During the spar, there was a lot of wrestling, and I also do professional wrestling so I had some good moments keeping him in the wrong positions. He was joking around, as he always does, and we were roughing
each other up on the inside.”

Leaked footage from their final sparring session together appeared to show that an elbow caused the cut but Smakici insists this was accidental. “When you see the punch, I know I shot a clear punch but the way he held my head, he was pulling my head forward to him. So, that’s maybe why the elbow came through also. But it was a punch first of all. It was a freak accident.”

What’s at stake?

Boxing will have an undisputed heavyweight champion again after what Fury himself has called a “fight for the ages”.

Fury holds the WBC belt, which he won in 2020 when he beat Deontay Wilder. He has defended that belt three times, against Wilder, Dillian Whyte and, most recently, Derek Chisora.

Usyk has held the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles since beating Anthony Joshua in 2021. He had defended those titles twice: against Joshua and Daniel Dubois.

Both Fury and Usyk are undefeated so far in their professional boxing careers.  The winner will become the first undisputed heavyweight champion in the four belt era.

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The last time boxing had a unified and undisputed heavyweight champion was in 2000 when Lennox Lewis held all four titles.