Riyadh Season is continuing to make its mark on boxing as it reveals a stupendous eye-catching card set to feature Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol in the main event. Complementing the card, which will be held at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, are a plethora of other significant fights including Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker, Carlos Adames vs. Hamzah Sheeraz and more undercard bouts that could arguably serve as a headlining event.
The upcoming February 22 card is set to be the first card Riyadh Season will host in 2025. With Riyadh Season organizer, General Entertainment Authority (GEA) chairman Turki Alalshikh, having already stated his plans to revolutionize boxing, the card seems to very much deliver on this promise with the array of undercard fights good enough to standalone as its own main event. This is further characterized by every fight on the card being for either a world or interim title while further being scheduled for the full 12 rounds.
As with every Riyadh Season card so far, a multitude of promotions will be working together for this event including Matchroom, Queensberry Promotions, Boxxer, Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions. The most surprising addition is that of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) who despite not officially being recognized as a promotion, with TGB Promotions serving as the official promoter for PBC-affiliated fighter, the official fight poster acknowledges PBC as its own promotional entity alongside the other promotions.
Headlining the card will be a rematch between Canadian-Russian undisputed light-heavyweight (175 lbs) champion Artur Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KO’s) and Russian rival Dmitry Bivol (23-1, 12 KO’s). Their previous match, which also headlined a Riyadh Season card, saw Beterbiev come through with a close and contentious split-decision (SD) win to become undisputed.
In the co-main event, British IBF heavyweight (200+ lbs) champion Daniel Dubois (22-2, 21 KO’s) now stands poised to defend his title against New Zealand WBO interim champion Joseph Parker (35-3, 23 KO’s) after thoroughly defeating British former unified champion Anthony Joshua (28-4, 25 KO’s).
On the undercard, several important and perhaps even groundbreaking fights are set to occur, particularly in the middleweight (160 lbs) division where Dominican WBC champion Carlos Adames (24-1, 18 KO’s) will seek to retain his title against quick-rising British 160-pound star Hamzah Sheeraz (21-0, 17 KO’s).
The match had been speculated to transpire since Sheeraz withdrew from a WBO purse bid ceremony to face Kazakh WBO & IBF middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly (16-0, 11 KO’s) in a mandatory bout.
At super welterweight (154 lbs), American WBC interim champion Vergil Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KO’s) and Uzbek former WBA champion Israil Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KO’s) are set to compete in a 154-pound title bout where Ortiz’ WBC title will be put on the line. Peculiarly, Madrimov is set to compete on another Riyadh Season card―headlined by Oleksandr Usyk ((22-0, 14 KO’s) and Tyson Fury (34-1-1, 24 KO’s) on December 21.
It is unknown if Madrimov’s participation on the February 22 card is contingent on him winning against Ukrainian opponent Serhhi Bohachuk (24-2, 23 KO’s) on December 21, or whether Bohachuk might fill Madrimov’s spot against Ortiz if he comes out victorious. In this scenario, it would prompt a rematch between Ortiz Jr. and Bohachuk―making for an equally-exciting fight between two highly-rated 154 lbs contenders.
At 175-pounds, similar stakes for an interim title are at play as British WBO interim champion Joshua Buatsi (19-0, 13 KO’s) is set to defend his title against countryman and former world champion Callum Smith (30-2, 22 KO’s).
Making part of the second heavyweight fight on the card is a contest between Chinese powerhouse Zhilei Zhang (27-2-1, 22 KO’s) and German “dark horse” competitor Agit Kabayel (25-0, 17 KO’s).
Lastly, American star Shakur Stevenson (22-0, 10 KO’s) will be defending his WBC lightweight (135 lbs) title against fellow countryman and 135-pound contender Floyd Schofield (18-0, 12 KO’s).
