Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter Alex Krassyuk has explained how the presence of Saudi Arabia has shaken up the match-making process in boxing.
Saudi Arabia will host the Day of Reckoning on December 23 with two main events, Deontay Wilder vs. Joseph Parker and also Anthony Joshua vs. Otto Wallin.
The card, shown live on DAZN PPV, also features names such as Daniel Dubois, Filip Hrgovic and Dmitry Bivol, and just a couple of months later the Kingdom will put on the undisputed heavyweight clash between Usyk and the WBC champion, Tyson Fury.
It is fair to say that boxing promoters had previously been reticent about working with one another due to the difficulty of splitting revenues and negotiations, but Krassyuk believes that the enthusiasm from Saudi Arabia is breaking down barriers.
He told Betway: “Listen, they are making fans' dreams come true. Normally we are used to seeing from the networks in the US and UK that one fighter is with one promotional company, and one is from the other so this fight is very difficult to accomplish, to sign a contract and to distribute the profits.
“The fans really suffer from it.
“But these guys, they are boxing fans, and they know what boxing fans want to see and they are making.
“Two or three, maybe five years ago we could hardly imagine that suddenly all of the biggest fights are coming in a room and taking place in one night.
“Who could imagine Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua, Joseph Parker, Daniel Dubois, Otto Wallin, Dmitry Bivol, Filip Hrgovic and many more fighting all in one night.
“Wow, that is just amazing because you cannot overestimate this event. It is so hard to negotiate like I said because of the networks involved but you have all of these big name fighters, promoters who don’t or won’t work with each other all turning up inside one room and that’s what makes it so amazing too. It's going to be an incredible night of boxing.”