So where will the Ruiz-Joshua rematch finally take place?

[smashup]

Saudi Arabia

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/boxing/2...abia-december/

[Fenster]

Spicoli - the all-time-great, B-Hop, was knocked down twice and scraped a draw with a man who never got close to the top, before or after (nobody would ever believe Mercado not only beat Hopkins but stopped him). Imagine the stick Golovkin or Canelo would get for Mercado?

The very fact Hopkins dominated the rematch, back home in the USA, which he wouldn't leave again for 20 years, and the "excuses" for Ecuador were all about the "climate," alien conditions and surroundings is a perfect example of exactly why home advantage is so important to fighters.

Imagine if Floyd fought Castillo in Mexico? He'd almost definitely have one loss on his record, probably two. And would never have generated the stardom or money his "0" allowed them to exploit.

[Fenster]

Wlad was knocked out in his 25th fight to journeyman Ross Purity, he had 10 more fights before challenging for the WBO title, the few times he fought in America were "off-TV," undercard bouts.

Joshua has had 23 fights and just headlined the biggest heavyweight fight in America for over a decade.

((before you start screaming i'm a "fanboy" and "cocksucker" and have my "head up his arse" i'm merely highlighting the comparison doesn't fit, not that Joshua deserves any special treatment or I even think he's anything special, I don't and never have. Fact.))

[TitoFan]

The fact that Wlad was knocked out by Puritty (and Sanders.... and Brewster) just strengthens my argument. Thanks.

Immediately after losing to Brewster, his next fight was in the States. From there on out it seems every other fight was in the States. He goes back to being champion and continues fighting in the States.

Comparing number of fights is meaningless. Wlad took a lot longer to fight for a championship, is all. Once he became champion, he fought as much outside Germany as he did in Germany.

He didn't cower in Germany after the first time he got knocked out.

In comparison, Joshua became champion rather quickly, the whole time in the comfort of home. The first time he ventures outside..... BAM!

Now he refuses to leave the UK and wants Ruiz to come to him.

Fact.

[smashup]

Anyway...... back on topic 👍🏻
Saudi Arabia is 2 hours ahead of the UK and 7 hours ahead of New York City.

Midnight in Saudi gives us 5pm USA & 10pm in the UK

That works for me 😎

[TitoFan]

Anyway...... back on topic 👍🏻
Saudi Arabia is 2 hours ahead of the UK and 7 hours ahead of New York City.

Midnight in Saudi gives us 5pm USA & 10pm in the UK

That works for me 😎

Thanks.

BTW, I think you had mentioned something about the crowd. Curiously, I myself have a problem imagining a screaming crowd of fans in a Saudi venue. Neutral, but blah.

[smashup]

Anyway...... back on topic 👍🏻
Saudi Arabia is 2 hours ahead of the UK and 7 hours ahead of New York City.

Midnight in Saudi gives us 5pm USA & 10pm in the UK

That works for me 😎

Thanks.

BTW, I think you had mentioned something about the crowd. Curiously, I myself have a problem imagining a screaming crowd of fans in a Saudi venue. Neutral, but blah.

It'll be worse than Tyson v Douglas, no UK fans will go due to the fact there's no chance of fucking any women and a strict no alcohol policy in the entire country.

[Gandalf]

Anyway...... back on topic 👍🏻
Saudi Arabia is 2 hours ahead of the UK and 7 hours ahead of New York City.

Midnight in Saudi gives us 5pm USA & 10pm in the UK

That works for me 😎

I morally oppose it. Would prefer the States tbh.

[smashup]

AJ's lost a LOAD of muscle, hopefully less of the weights and focusing on speed for the rematch.

He looks like a cruiserweight in this pic.

https://www.worldboxingnews.net/2019...-loss-rematch/

[Spicoli]

Spicoli - the all-time-great, B-Hop, was knocked down twice and scraped a draw with a man who never got close to the top, before or after (nobody would ever believe Mercado not only beat Hopkins but stopped him). Imagine the stick Golovkin or Canelo would get for Mercado?

The very fact Hopkins dominated the rematch, back home in the USA, which he wouldn't leave again for 20 years, and the "excuses" for Ecuador were all about the "climate," alien conditions and surroundings is a perfect example of exactly why home advantage is so important to fighters.

Imagine if Floyd fought Castillo in Mexico? He'd almost definitely have one loss on his record, probably two. And would never have generated the stardom or money his "0" allowed them to exploit.

But honestly man, why leave for the sake of leaving if a guy is taking care of business and at the very top. As I said who was he to leave for as a multi champion. AJ wanted to introduce himself to a new market, new fans and expand upon future champs and threats he was already riffing with. Now he doesn't care to return once it went busto. Ah well.

I can't imagine GGG taking too much stick off a disputed rough draw had he gone onto a record title run. Not to mention then moving up in weight, reinventing his style and skill and competing beating some of the best there too. Fans put that into perspective over time. No one pretends Mercado was anymore than his shining night and was also the beneficiary of a missed call or two by the ref . Young Hopkins had a tough obscure fight in a Country that has only 2 title fights in it's history and dominated the championship rounds. Annnd brutalized Mercado if immediate rematch. Then he became legend.

On a side note Saudi Arabia is horrible. All about the bills and bank with that location and there will be many fans who miss it. Much rather across the pond or in the States but this is like pawning out a pristine attraction to someone who has no idea they have before them.

[palmerq]

Quito is at a very high altitude, it's more of an oddity. I don't think it's the fairest comparison of how fighters do.. Quito is around 700 meters higher up than the big bear gym. :S

[smashup]

They're purpose building a 12 - 16 thousand outdoor arena for this one andclassing it as an "event" with live acts like David Guerra djing over the weekend.
70% of Saudi Arabia's 45 million population is aged under 24 so you can see exactly who they're aiming this "event" at.
With all this money being thrown at this Sky Sports should have made it free to air which could have brought in viewing figures of 4-5 million easily (probably more).
Hearn saying the crowd will be "Vibrant" and people are "Naive towards Saudi Arabia" is utter bullshit!
The recent Amir Khan fight had fuck all atmosphere throughout the entire event.
Will be an interesting spectacle with amazing production levels but fights in the places like Saudi Arabia will never draw UK fans to fly over.

[Fenster]

Where's all this "no atmosphere" stuff coming from? Who was cheering and clapping all through the Khan fight then? And what about the Groves-Smith WBSS final?

Did they use photoshop and fake clapping for the TV? ()

[smashup]

Where's all this "no atmosphere" stuff coming from? Who was cheering and clapping all through the Khan fight then? And what about the Groves-Smith WBSS final?

Did they use photoshop and fake clapping for the TV? ()

You honestly trying to claim either of those two nights had an atmosphere anywhere near what you'd get in the UK?

The Khan fight was like a morgue and the Groves fight wasn't much better.

[TitoFan]

They're purpose building a 12 - 16 thousand outdoor arena for this one andclassing it as an "event" with live acts like David Guerra djing over the weekend.
70% of Saudi Arabia's 45 million population is aged under 24 so you can see exactly who they're aiming this "event" at.
With all this money being thrown at this Sky Sports should have made it free to air which could have brought in viewing figures of 4-5 million easily (probably more).
Hearn saying the crowd will be "Vibrant" and people are "Naive towards Saudi Arabia" is utter bullshit!
The recent Amir Khan fight had fuck all atmosphere throughout the entire event.
Will be an interesting spectacle with amazing production levels but fights in the places like Saudi Arabia will never draw UK fans to fly over.

I'm actually surprised they didn't just have it in Dubai. Regardless, all the excesses in that part of the world... the tallest skyscrapers... big-ass indoor skiing resorts... It seems logical the Saudis would throw all kinds of money at this event. But you're right. You can't "buy" atmosphere, and whatever there is will probably be partly "canned". Thoughts of recorded chants of "Dee-fense!.... Dee-fense!" in half-empty playing venues come to mind. Hearn will say just about anything that suits his fancy. It's his job to sell the un-sellable. Me? I really don't care, as the time of the event is fully doable in this part of the world.

Looking forward to it.