I n early December 2024, Turki Alalshikh announced a fight card that instantly set the boxing world ablaze. On February 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, “The Last Crescendo” will air live on DAZN PPV, and it features a lineup that rivals the greatest cards in boxing history. No, seriously, it does. There are seven interesting matchups on the card, headlined by an undisputed championship fight preceded by three world title bouts
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“Revenge: The Rematches” (The Ring’s 1994 Event of the Year) and “The Grand Slam of Boxing” (headlined by Julio Cesar Chavez vs. Greg Haugen in 1993), which longtime boxing fans still talk about to this day. Once again, Alalshikh has managed to bring several major promoters together to deliver fans great matchups. “The Last Crescendo” presents fighters from Top Rank, Matchroom Boxing, Golden Boy Promotions, TGB Promotions, Queensberry Promotions and Boxxer. In the fractured modern world of boxing, it is practically unheard of to see promoters come together like this. But money talks, and
“Riyadh Season” has proven repeatedly that it can be done. The Ring spoke with several boxing insiders to get their thoughts, fight by fight, on what figures to be an epic night of boxing in Saudi Arabia. 1. Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol II, undisputed light heavyweight championship In one of the biggest fights of 2024, Artur Beterbiev was taken the distance for the first time in his career, winning a majority decision over Dmitry Bivol to become the first undisputed
and three interim title bouts. The lineup rivals that of classic Don King pay-per-view cards like
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THE GREATEST FIGHT CARD EVER? IN FEBRUARY 2025, BOXING FANS WILL BE TREATED TO AN OLD-SCHOOL BATTLE ROYALE FEATURING FIGHTERS FROM VIRTUALLY EVERY MAJOR STABLE IN MULTIPLE TITLE BOUTS By Michael Montero
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