Anthony Joshua’s world heavyweight championship rematch with Ukrainian war hero Oleksandr Usyk will take place in Saudi Arabia in June end. A fantastic mega-million-dollar deal to shift Joshua’s bid to regain his WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO titles away from London was settled in principle at Middle East time last night, with June 25 marked as the most probable date.
The agreement was reached as the Formula 1 circus was in the concluding stages of wrapping up to get out of Jeddah after Sunday’s Grand Prix went further regardless of a heavy rocket attack on a Saudi oil installation just at a distance of 12 miles from the track.
Anthony Joshua’s Rematch to Take Place in Saudi Arabia
Anthony Joshua had his fight there in December 2019, in a similar rematch against Andy Ruiz who had inflicted AJ’s first defeat and first loss of the titles. The return face-off with Usyk had looked to be getting back to London, either at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium where AJ received a massive thrashing in their first flight, or at the Wembley stadium.
But once again it’s the Saudi money to speak again. This time quite more interestingly, the Kingdom appears to sport to help its image development in the face of human rights controversies.
Apparently, the site fee is more than double the $50m the ruling Sheikhs bombarded out for Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, and co to take a huge risk driving under the blazing, smoking shadow of that massive terrorist attack. Probably this time they paid for a third more than the $80m for Joshua-Ruiz II.
As fans look forward to the dazzling rematch to be staged in Saudi Arabia, this is a fight that Anthony Joshua could hardly afford to lose at this stage of his phenomenal career. Coincidentally, June 25 is celebrated as Armed Forces Day in the country.
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