Eddie Hearn has insisted that no deal has been agreed to stage the Oleksandr Usyk vs. Anthony Joshua rematch in Saudi Arabia despite reports claiming a $120 million offer had been made by the country.
The fight has been tentatively scheduled for June 25 after Usyk left Ukraine to begin training for the fight. He had previously returned to his homeland and signed up to an army reserve force after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Usyk had claimed the WBA, WBO, IBO and IBF heavyweight titles from Joshua last September at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London and it had been expected that the rematch would take place either there or at Wembley Stadium.
But Usyk's promoter Alexander Krassyuk revealed on Sky Sports on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia had made a bid, with other sources claiming that the deal was done.
“This location is under discussion at the moment,” Krassyuk said. “Many things will depend on how fast we manage to ink the papers.
“The good thing is that Usyk is already in Europe to start his preparation.”
But while Hearn insisted that the country had made an offer, several others were on the table.
“Nothing’s been agreed,” Hearn said. “There’s been interest from home, Saudi, other countries in the Middle East and the USA.”
Boxing is hardly new to Saudi Arabia. The biggest event they have staged so far was Joshua's rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr in 2018 in Riyadh, while the World Boxing Super Series final between Callum Smith and George Groves was staged in Jeddah.
Indeed, Usyk had been due to be there in his WBSS cruiserweight final against Murat Gassiev, before Usyk suffered an injury.
That fight eventually took place in Moscow.
Saudi Arabia was also set to be the venue of the undisputed world heavyweight title fight between Joshua and Tyson Fury last year before Fury was ordered by a US judge to have a third fight with Deontay Wilder.
But it remains a controversial location despite huge growth in golf and Formula One, which have led to accusations of sportswashing for a country with an appalling human rights record.
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.