Turki Alalshikh’s “Riyadh Season” cards have stood alone as the gold standard of boxing shows over the past year, and it already looks like Feb. 22 will be no different.
A second IBF heavyweight title defense for Britain’s Daniel Dubois against New Zealand’s Joseph Parker is currently targeted to top the card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. There are at least four other clashes in the works for the event, including the highly anticipated undisputed light heavyweight title rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. Dan Rafael first reported the news Tuesday.
Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) shocked the boxing world when he dropped Anthony Joshua four times en route to a fifth-round knockout at Wembley Stadium in September to successfully defend his IBF world heavyweight title. The 27-year-old picked up wins over Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic heading into the fight after losing to Oleksandr Usyk for the unified title.
Parker (35-3, 23 KOs), likewise, has been on a fantastic run, winning five fights in a row since his September 2022 knockout loss to Joe Joyce. The New Zealander pulled off an upset similar to Dubois vs. Joshua when he dominated Deontay Wilder in December, then followed it up by getting up off the floor twice to snatch Zhilei Zhang’s WBO interim title by majority decision in March.
Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) and Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) gave fight fans a terrific contest years in the making in October. On that occasion, Beterbiev controversially edged Bivol, however many viewers, including Alalshikh, were left dissatisfied with the judge’s verdict. The pair could soon rematch in the co-main event to Dubois vs. Parker.
Beterbiev has an outstanding IBF mandatory obligation against the little-known Michael Eifert, but a six-figure step-aside deal has been agreed with the German to allow Beterbiev vs. Bivol to proceed for all four belts.
Among other bouts currently targeted for the Feb. 22 card is a matchup between Jaron “Boots” Ennis and Vergil Ortiz Jr.
Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) and Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) were once considered the two best welterweight prospects in the world and two of the United States’ brightest rising boxing talents. They seemed destined to meet in a major welterweight bout in the era following Terence Crawford vs. Errol Spence, however Ortiz Jr. suffered health problems related to his weight cut down to 147 pounds and had to move up to super welterweight in early 2024. He went on to capture the WBC interim title in August with a majority decision win over Serhii Bohachuk.
Ennis stayed at welterweight, became the IBF world champion and has made two defenses of his belt, but has struggled to get any of the other welterweight titleholders to share the ring with him. “Boots” also admitted after his most recent win over Karen Chukhadzhian that the weight cut is getting difficult for him. Like Ortiz Jr., his future now appears to be at 154 pounds.
The WBC and WBO separately ordered their middleweight champions, Carlos Adames and Janibek Alimkhanuly, to defend their belts against mandatory challenger Hamzah Sheeraz, however Sheeraz (21-0, 17 KOs) withdrew from the WBO purse bid ordering him to face Janibek and is now in discussions to clash with Adames (21-1, 18 KOs) next. Although contracts have not been signed, terms have been agreed for the WBC king Adames to put his strap on the line against the undefeated Brit on Feb. 22.
Adames was upgraded to full WBC champion in May and has since made a single defense of his title with a wide unanimous decision over Terrell Gausha.
Sheeraz competed three times in 2024, with two of those bouts ending early — Liam Williams failed to make it out of the opening round with him, and Tyler Denny lasted just one round longer. Austin Williams managed to push Sheeraz into the 11th round, but he eventually suffered a knockout loss as well. Sheeraz has quickly established himself as one of Britain’s top fighters and arguably the best at middleweight.
Heavyweights Agit Kabayel and Martin Bakole were initially ordered to meet in a final eliminator contest in October by the IBF, however Kabayel (25-0, 17 KOs) chose to withdraw from the bout to pursue other opportunities, leading the sanctioning body to order Bakole to battle Chinese southpaw Zhang instead. Zhang (27-2, 22 KOs) appears to now be following Kabayel and has also opted out of the Bakole fight, with the two instead targeting a heavyweight showdown against one another on Feb. 22.
Kabayel, a former European champion, has picked up two major wins on “Riyadh Season” cards. In December 2023, Kabayel dropped Arslanbek Makhmudov three times as a heavy underdog en route to halting him in the fourth round. On the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk undercard in May, Kabayel emerged victorious in a WBC eliminator, stopping Cuban contender Frank Sanchez in seven rounds.
Zhang was last seen in action in June when he knocked out Deontay Wilder in five rounds in the headliner of the “Riyadh Season” 5 vs. 5 event to give Queensberry a 10-0 sweep over Matchroom.
Another matchup initially ticketed for the Feb. 22 card was WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson battling his mandatory challenger William Zepeda. Zepeda edged Tevin Farmer by a split decision earlier this month, and in the process, picked up an injury, ruling him out of a Stevenson clash on Feb. 22. Stevenson’s promoter Eddie Hearn has now offered “Kid Austin” Floyd Schofield the fight for the WBC lightweight title on Feb. 22, however Stevenson’s return may also been delayed for a later date.
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