Sports
Saudi Cash Is Reviving Boxing’s Don King Era, WBC Executive Says
Boxers Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury during a match event in Riyadh in December.
Photographer: Mohammed Saad/Anadolu/Getty Images.
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Saudi Arabia’s huge investments are restoring boxing to the glamor and profile it had under legendary promoter Don King, according to a senior administrator at one of the main organizations for the sport.
“The biggest money is paid here and has been for now two years,” World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman said in an interview in Riyadh. “The way things are now, it’s like when boxing arrived in Vegas. They are bringing back the Don King Era,” Sulaiman said, referring to the man who promoted some of boxing’s biggest names, including Muhammad Ali and George Foreman.