Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, Minister of Sports, crowned the Ukrainian professional boxer Oleksandr Usyk with the title of world heavyweight boxing champion, after his victory over British professional boxer Anthony Joshua by a decision of two of three referees in the "Rage on the Red Sea' boxing battle, which was held in the presence of more than 10,000 spectators at the gymnasium in King Abdullah City here this morning, as millions of people around the world watched it, via TV channels. Usyk succeeded in preserving his WBA Super, IBF, WBO and IBO titles, which he grabbed in the first fight, which was held in September of 2021, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, in the presence of 60,000 spectators, before demanding "Joshua" to rematch, which was held for the first time in the history of heavyweight competitions after 1999. Usyk also added to his titles an additional title, which is the title of Ring Magazine, which boxer Tyson Fury had abandoned earlier this week. On this occasion, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, Minister of Sports and Chairman of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee, said: "We are proud to host this great global event for the second time, which is a consolidation of one of our goals, aimed at making the Kingdom a destination to host world championships, which confirms the unprecedented interest that the sports sector receives from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and the direct support of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister which is what we feel it at every sporting event that takes place in the Kingdom." He added, "I congratulate Ukrainian professional boxer Oleksandr Usyk for winning the Red Sea Rage's rematch, and good luck to his opponent, Joshua, as the two boxers performed historically, in front of a large audience, and I would like to thank them for their presence on this unforgettable night." The event started with a number of secondary fights, in the presence of more than 200 Saudi and international media professionals of 15 different nationalities, and representing more than 100 TV channels, newspapers and websites specialized in the sport of boxing. The fights witnessed a landslide victory for Ziyad Al-Maayouf, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's first professional boxer by defeating the Mexico's Jose Alatorre by technical knockout in the first round, after just one minute and five seconds, and the British Somali-born Ramla Ali managed to defeat her opponent from the Dominican Republic, Crystal Garcia Nova. The tactics in the first round, after just one minute and five seconds, and the British-Somali-born Ramla Ali managed to defeat her opponent from the Dominican Republic, Crystal Garcia. Other fights saw Bulgarian Traicho Georgiev defeating UAE boxer Rashed Belhasa; Ukrainian Daniel Lapin defeating slovakian boxer Joseph Gorkov; British Benjamin Whittaker defeating Croatian boxer Petar Nosic, and American boxer Andrew Tabiti over his compatriot James Wilson, after the latter's team decided to withdraw. The Swedish professional boxer Badou Jack beat the American Richard D. Rivera by a decision of two out of three referees, and the Jordanian boxer Bader Samreen managed to beat the Azerbaijani Fouad Tarverdi by technical knockout, in the fourth and final round, to keep his record unbeaten. British professional boxer Callum Smith scored a resounding victory by knocking out French opponent Mathieu Baudelaire in the fourth round, giving Smith a chance to fight for the WBC Super Middleweight title. After 12 marathon rounds, Croatian boxer Filip Hrgovic defeated China's Chang Zili, by a collective decision of the three referees, and snatched a chance to fight for the IBF Heavyweight title. It is worth mentioning that the Kingdom's hosting of this fight is among the goals of the Ministry of Sports and the Saudi Boxing Federation, to achieve the strategic objectives of the Kingdom's continued hosting of the most important and largest world sporting events, as a global destination to host such major global competitions, in addition to the diversity of hosting events and programs.
