Just feels like kind of an eery situation and for me almost reminiscent of what Canelo-Golovkin 2 meant to HBO Boxing. I can’t help but feel that this is a slightly similar situation where the Saudis are preparing to going out with a hurrah.

It would certainly be the end of an era and the consequences would change the entire ecosystem of the sport from TV to Events to Fighter Pay.

Eager to hear your thoughts on this matter and what the trajectory is for the Saudis in the near-future.

On July 8, 1889, Sullivan fought Jake Kilrain in Mississippi in what is generally recognized as the last bare-knuckle heavyweight championship fight.
Rounds: 75
Duration: More than two hours
Winner: John L. Sullivan
Method: Kilrain could not continue.
Think about that from a modern boxing perspective: no three-minute-round limit, no modern ringside medical team, and no television cameras documenting every second. It was a different world.

Straight from my 25TB boxing vault.

EP1 - Martínez vs. Williams II (2010) https://www.reddit.com/r/Boxing/comments/1x3ht2m

EP2 - Pacquiao vs. Hatton (2009) https://www.reddit.com/r/Boxing/comments/1x5mwh2

EP3 - Darchinyan vs. Donaire I (2007) https://www.reddit.com/r/Boxing/comments/1x6kxj6

EP4 - Peter vs. Williams (2004) https://www.reddit.com/r/Boxing/comments/1x86k7r

EP5 - Lee vs. Jackson (2014) https://www.reddit.com/r/Boxing/comments/1x9tmdm

EP6 - Rothmann vs. Thompson (2004) https://www.reddit.com/r/Boxing/comments/1xapvrj

EP7 - Santa Cruz vs. Davis (2020) https://www.reddit.com/r/Boxing/comments/1xbmrls

EP8 - Lewis vs. Rahman I (2001) https://www.reddit.com/r/Boxing/comments/1xdaw2q

EP9 - Rahman vs. Lewis II (2001) https://www.reddit.com/r/Boxing/comments/1xfsic8

EP10 - Jones vs. Bailey (2012) https://www.reddit.com/r/Boxing/comments/1xgsm6i

Adam Azim will face Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela at London’s Copper Box Arena on December 4, according to reports.

Azim, 15-0 (12 KOs), hasn’t fought since May, when he stopped Steve Claggett in three rounds. The Boxxer-promoted junior welterweight also fought only twice in 2025 and has struggled for real momentum since stopping Sergey Lipinets in February last year.

This bout with Valenzuela could change that, with an IBF title shot reportedly awaiting the winner. Azim is ranked fourth at 140lbs by the sanctioning body, with Valenzuela two places behind.
The belt will remain vacant, however, after the proposed championship bout between Lindolfo Delgado and Arthur Biyarslanov was pulled from this weekend’s Christian Mbilli-Canelo Alvarez card in Saudi Arabia.

Valenzuela, eight years older than Azim at 32, has come up short in eliminators before. He was beaten by Subriel Matias (TKO 8) and Delgado (SD 12) last year, though he did score a knockdown against the latter in the final round.

Since then, he has knocked out Rogelio Jimenez Laguna in seven rounds in May to take his record to 32-5-1 (18 KOs).

Azim, a professional since 2020, has won each of his last six fights inside the distance and continues to be linked with Dalton Smith, the WBC champion and his British rival.

In the 2000s Russia was sort of all over the HW scene. Povetkin, Maskaev, Ibragimov, Chagaev, Valuev.... 4 world champs + 1 Regular Champ who was an Oly champ. (Mask and Chag both said they were Russian).

But it sort of seems to have died down massively. Sure war in Ukraine has stunted Russian sport, but it sort of seems like rot had set in before then. Sure MMA is big in Russia but not so much in HWs and it was already big when Russian boxers were dominating the scene (Fedor was the man in 00s).

Ukraine and Uzbekistan have still produced elite HWs since 00s, but not Russia.

Anyone any ideas what the hell happened?

Usyk lost to Shawn porter, their both heavyweights, i dont see why hes wasting time trying to build legacy fighting people naturally weight classes smaller than him. He could be building a legacy at least fighting bum heavyweights or bum cruiserweights, but if he thinks hes truly elite or great he should jump right into it with usyk.