On a night filled with excitement and enthusiasm, Russian Dmitry Bivol successfully retained his IBF and WBA light heavyweight titles with a knockout (TKO) against Libyan boxer Malik Zinad. Who withstood until the sixth round before succumbing to Bivol’s tactical punches, breaking Zinad’s 22-win streak and keeping Bivol’s record undefeated. HE Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA), extended an invitation to Bivol for another bout on October 12th in Riyadh as part of Riyadh Season 2024.
In the bouts held as part of the “5vs5” event during Riyadh Season at “Kingdom Arena” in the Saudi capital Riyadh, boxers from Queensberry Promotions emerged victorious in their challenging matchups against their counterparts from Matchroom Boxing. In the first bout, Scottish Willie Hutchinson, the 2016 World Youth Championship gold medalist in the middleweight category, won by unanimous decision after both he and his opponent, British Craig Richards, the British light heavyweight champion, endured all 12 rounds.
In the second bout, the judges awarded a “split decision” victory to Queensberry Promotions’ ambitious boxer Nick Ball against Matchroom Boxing’s American fighter Raymond Ford, the WBA featherweight titleholder with an undefeated record of 15 wins, 8 of which were by knockout. Ford tasted defeat for the first time in his career.
In a bout that ignited the crowd’s excitement at “Kingdom Arena,” British boxer Hamzah Sheeraz (Queensberry Promotions), the Commonwealth champion and WBC Silver titleholder with an undefeated record of 19 wins, 15 by knockout, defeated his American opponent Austin Williams (Matchroom Boxing). Williams, who was the top-ranked amateur in the U.S. team before turning professional with 16 wins, 11 by knockout, could not last beyond the 11th round and lost by technical knockout (TKO). This victory gave Sheeraz and Queensberry Promotions their sixth point, leaving Matchroom Boxing with none.
In the eighth round of the bout between British heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois (WBA) and Croatian Filip Hrgovic, ranked number one by the International Boxing Federation (IBF), Queensberry Promotions’ chairman Frank Warren jumped for joy as his team secured their eighth point, leaving Matchroom Boxing scoreless as they continued to lose bout after bout. Dubois achieved victory with a knockout (TKO).
In the final bout between Chinese boxer Zhang Zhilei, ranked the third-best heavyweight in the world by The Ring magazine, and American boxer Deontay Wilder, who has held the WBC heavyweight title since 2007, Zhilei secured two additional points for Frank Warren’s team after a five-round bout, winning by technical knockout (TKO). The “5vs5” event concluded with Queensberry Promotions sweeping ten points, with their boxers achieving victory without any wins for the opposing team, thus earning the $3 million prize.
