Promoter Eddie Hearn and His Excellency Turki Alalshikh revealed that they have a card being planned for February 22nd for the Riyadh Season event. Matchroom promoter Hearn didn’t say who will be headlining, but he does say it’s the “Best card yet.”
For it to be the “best,” it must involve one of Hearn’s top guys. Shakur Stevenson is supposed to be fighting in February, so he would be the obvious fighter who will get the pick. Shakur is supposed to be coming back from his hand surgery to defend against William Zepeda in February.
That’ll be a fun fight to see how Shakur deals with this human buzzsaw. Stevenson isn’t a big star, so it doesn’t fit for him to be part of the card that Hearn is talking about. It’s got to be one of Hearn’s big guns.
It’s safe to say that Matchroom flagship fighter Anthony Joshua won’t be fighting because he’ll need more time to recover from his recent knockout loss to Daniel Dubois. February is too soon for Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 rematch to be rescheduled.
Hearn’s fighter, Bivol, lost, and he’s going to need to rebuild before getting back in with his conqueror, Beterbiev.
Turki Alalshikh: “Eddie, are you ready for the card in February?”
Eddie Hearn: “February 22nd, I think it’s the best card yet for Riyadh Season.”
Turki: “I hope so.”
Hearn: “Let’s go.”
The way that Turki said, “I hope so,” had an ominous sound to it. I could be reading something into this, but I got the impression that he wants Hearn to produce a quality card, especially related to the main event.
We saw how badly it ended for Hearn’s fighter, Bivol, last Saturday night. Afterward, when Bivol lost, Hearn didn’t show good sportsmanship, which tainted the fight’s outcome.
Hearn looked like he was about to blow a gasket after the fight. He was a textbook example of a sore loser. If you put a blood pressure cuff on Hearn, it likely would have been sky-high in the 180/120 region. Get a grip, Hearn. Just because your fighter lost, you don’t have to go to pieces every time.
— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) October 19, 2024
