The clash between light heavyweight champions Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol is officially set for June 1 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The anticipation surrounding this bout has lingered for years. Now as the date is getting closer, the excitement of the fans seems to be mounting as well. Moreover, His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has announced something unique for this fight.

As it turns out, all the fans in the USA and Canada will be able to access the fight in their country for free. This was revealed in an interview by the Top Rank CEO Bob Arum where he talked about how this happened. Moreover, is the offer available to the people of other countries as well?

An undisputed fight for free?

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been trying its hardest to bring boxing back to its former glory. Now, as it turns out, after the fans’ disappointment with the postponement of the Tyson Fury–Oleksandr Usyk fight at the last moment, Turki Alalshikh was adamant about making it up to the fans. So, for a change, he’s decided to let the fans stream the undisputed showdown between Bivol and Beterbiev for free this time.

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In an interview with FightHype, Bob Arum stated that even though it’ll be an exciting matchup, it wasn’t really a big pay-per-view fight. For this reason, he mentioned, “We’ve arranged with His Excellency Turki Alalshikh that the fight will be distributed on free television by ESPN in the US and Canada.” As of now, only these countries will have access to the free broadcast.

This doesn’t usually happen in boxing, but the management is making an exception for this one. It could be a way for Alalshikh to make it up to the fans after the Fury-Usyk debacle, even though he promised to return the money of the fans after the bout’s cancellation.

HE Turki Alalshikh is ready to pay back

The moment the fight was canceled the week before, Turki Alalshikh started making arrangements to  give the fans their money back. The fight fans will be refunded their ticket price, and they will receive the money in their bank account at the earliest. Furthermore, Alalshikh doesn’t want this to happen again, so he mentioned how he’s arranged for a fine on both fighters.

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He revealed, “I’ve guaranteed both fighters 10 million if someone has escaped the fight. I also guarantee another big fight on the same night.” If any one of them tries to pull out, Alalshikh will have a secondary opponent ready for both of the fighters, and there’ll be a fight for the undisputed title on the night of May 18th anyhow. He assured the fans that they won’t be going home disappointed this time.

Saudi Arabia is making huge waves towards the rise of the sport of boxing after the sport hit a slump in the last few years. They’re trying to make big fights happen, and now, the fans will be having two great fights in just a matter of a few months. What are your thoughts about this? Tell us in the comments section.

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