All systems go for mega card topped by Crawford challenging Madrimov
Turki Alalshikh brings Riyadh Season event to U.S. for first time for Los Angeles show that also includes Pitbull-Valenzuela, Tszyu-Ortiz, Ruiz-Miller, Morrell-Kalajdzic, more
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Pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford will begin his quest for a world title in a fourth division against WBA junior middleweight titlist Israil Madrimov, a man who unabashedly said Crawford is his favorite fighter.
They will meet in the main event of a loaded card on Aug. 3 at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, in the first boxing event in the United States backed by Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia, where his previous shows have taken place as part of the months-long Riyadh Season festival.
The fight, as well as the rest of the card, was announced at a news conference on Wednesday at Gotham Hall in New York as Alalshikh is bringing to bear Saudi Arabia’s considerable financial resources for a show in the U.S. with plans for another major card in September at Wembley Stadium in London.
The broadcast details were not announced, although DAZN streamed the news conference and has streamed the previous events via pay-per-view.
“We are delighted for Riyadh Season to host its first overseas event in Los Angeles and this fight in the United States is a special one to mark this moment,” Alalshikh said in a statement. “We want to give people around the world the opportunity to enjoy their own Riyadh Season experience and this is exactly what we hope to achieve by staging this and also future events around the world.”
Like Alalshikh’s shows that have taken place in Riyadh in recent months, with others set for May 18 (Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk) and June 1 (Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol and the “5 vs. 5”), the Aug. 3 undercard is packed with significant fights, but Crawford’s return is obviously the most significant bout.
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