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

[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.

[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? ()

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.

Obviously the atmosphere wouldn't never compete with a UK fight, just saying it looked and sounded like any normal place from TV, that's all. I agree it's a nightmare place for UK fans.

Hearn almost threw up telling Kugan "of course it's no booze"

[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.

Obviously the atmosphere wouldn't never compete with a UK fight, just saying it looked and sounded like any normal place from TV, that's all. I agree it's a nightmare place for UK fans.

The worrying thing is that fighters are ALL gonna want a piece of this extra money that Arab & Emirates places can throw at events pretty much unrivalled, the money they can front up makes Vegas look like Oxfam.
The days of Our top fighters fighting at Wembley or Cardiff could be numbered.
Why would they fight on home soil when they can earn shitloads more in places like Saudi Arabia?

You can't blame the fighters for wanting maximum $£$£ especially given their lives are on the line with every fight.

It's gonna be interesting to see how this all pans out over the next few years, Hearn was saying that other Emirates countries put in bigger bids to host this fight, Dubai, Qatar etc.

[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.

[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.

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.

You seem to think i'm saying something i'm not, so just to be clear...

I replied to the notion that - home advantage isn't relevant and true champions fight anywhere. I used Hopkins, among other examples, to highlight greats who wouldn't leave home without good reason (the Mercado fight says it all). I agree that without reason there's no point for champs to give up home advantage, being the home fighter is obviously preferable, a privilege champions have exploited since the dawn of time.

1. I am not disparaging Hopkins in any way whatsoever.

2. I am not saying Golovkin or any travelling champion is better than Hopkins.

3. I am not saying stay at home fighters can't be legends.