After much speculation, Riyad’s first card of the 2025 season is now official and promises to be a very special night of boxing.
The announcement was made tonight by Turki Alalshikh on social media platform X with promoters Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn following along.
On February 22nd in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia the undisputed light heavyweight title will once again be on the line when champion Artur Beterbiev, 21-0 (20 KOs), faces Dmitry Bivol, 23-1 (12 KOs), in a rematch four month struggle. from their first match. That October night Beterbiev cruised past Bivol in a split decision to take all four world titles. The result was controversial, however, and now the top two at 175 pounds will call it quits.
IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois, 22-2 (21 KOs), makes the second defense of his belt against former WBO titleholder Joseph Parker, 35-3 (23 KOs). The Brit enters the fight having knocked out former division boss Anthony Joshua, but faces a rejuvenated Parker who has scored victories against Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang.
Shakur Stevenson, 22-0 (10 KOs) makes his first appearance on a Riyadh Season card when Matchroom’s latest signing defends his WBC lightweight title against rising Floyd Schofield, 18-0 (12 KOs). Stevenson had hoped to face Golden Boy Promotions lightweight star William Zepeda, but the Mexican pulled out with an injury that gave Schofield the biggest fight of his career.
Britain could have another world champion by the end of the night if Hamzah Sheeraz, 21-0 (17 KOs) can dethrone WBC middleweight champion Carlos Adames, 24-1 (18 KOs). Promoter Frank Warren confirmed weeks ago that his middleweight star would fight for a world title next year, with many believing it would come against current 160kg number one Zhanibek Alimkhanuly. However, that fight was put to one side when Sheeraz stepped down from his WBO mandate to focus on the green and gold belts.
The live super welterweight scene adds another interesting fight to its slate on February 22 when Vergil Ortiz Jr, 22-0 (21 KOs), battles Israil Madrimov, 10-1-1 (7 KOs) for the interim belt WBC’s 154lb. It remains to be seen, however, whether Madrimov will fight on December 21 in Riyadh against Serhii Bohachuk. Their scheduled fight comes nine weeks before they face Ortiz Jr. The latter was linked with a fight against Jaron Ennis, but a no-deal saw the unbeaten 26-year-old take on former WBA champion Madrimov who narrowly lost to Terence Crawford. in August.
Another heavyweight battle lands in Riyadh on the same night when Zhilei Zhang, 27-2-1 (22 KOs) and Agit Kabayel, 25-0 (17 KOs), lock horns for the WBC Interim heavyweight belt. Zhang returned to winning ways by beating Wilder last time out, while Kabayel has made the most of his places on Riyadh’s season cards by impressing against Arslanbek Makhmudov and Frank Sanchez.
Rounding out the announcement is a fight that could easily top the UK telecast. Joshua Buatsi, 19-0 (13 KOs), stakes his world title aspirations when he defends his WBO Interim belt against Callum Smith, 30-2 (22 KOs). Boucci looked back on his upset win over Willy Hutchinson in September, while Smith, who lost to Beterbiev in January, continues to pursue his ambitions of becoming a two-weight world champion. The tough Liverpudlian dusted off the cobwebs from a 10-month layoff by stopping Carlos Galvan in five rounds on Saturday night.
