The business of boxing is something I love so much and despite the inherent risk, it is just fun to see that there is so much to be made from a bout.
$$$
Anthony Joshua who got his biggest payday of £20m in his last bout with Ruiz where he lost, will be getting mush more than that given that Ruiz Jr got an increased offer.
When Joshua activated the rematch clause to fight Andy Ruiz Jr in Saudi Arabia, the Mexican was billed to earn a guaranteed £7million ($9m) from the fight purse. But, renegotiation has been concluded which will see him earn $10m (£8.2m) from the fight purse.
The rematch announcement was made 2 weeks ago and soon after, Ruiz's management raised concerns about the human rights condition in the Islamic nation with a bid to negotiate a better chunk of the purse, and he got what he wanted.
Saudi Arabia stepped in for a part of the pie.
Seeing that there is big business in boxing and after the sudden KO of Anthony Joshua by Ruiz Jr, the Saudi Arabia nation decided to take a shot at the chance to make money through tourism as this rematch will be watched globally and there are at least 250k people who will travel to the Arab nation to watch the rematch.
Reports has it that, Saudi Arabia will spend as much as £80m to stage the rematch, while Eddie Hearn was said to have received more than £33m ($40m) to bring the fight to Diriyah. That is some mind blowing figure.
Concerns about Saudi Arabia.
The US government warns its citizens of serious security concerns in the Arab nation and this was what reason why Ruiz Jr and his team declined to travel to Saudi Arabia.
After a protracted negotiation and an increase of fight fee, the rematch will be holding as Ruiz Jr finally put pen to paper.
My Thoughts.
I wasn't really sure why the match was slated to happen in Saudi Arabia until I read about how much Hearn got to take the fight to the oil rich Arab nation.
£33m is a whole lot of money and seeing that Hearn will get that much taking the fight there is something is worth checking out and Hearn continues to defend the decision to do business with Saudi Arabia.
