David Benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde and the continued allure of fighting in Riyadh

RIYADH — The fight card headlined by David Benavidez and Anthony Yarde takes place in Saudi Arabia despite almost all of the marquee names being from either the US or the UK.

The event will take place at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, the kingdom’s capital. Fight fans around the world can catch the action live exclusively as a pay-per-view (PPV) on DAZN.

It is yet another example of how willing boxing promoters have become in letting their most prominent matchups take place in the country. This particular fight card happens to be taking place at the same time as Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits the US. Not only are boxing promoters continuing to bring events to the kingdom, the boxers featured on them are more than happy to be here despite the country’s past and the fact that they are fighting nowhere near their home crowds.

David Benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde and the continued allure of fighting in Riyadh

The David Benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde grand arrivals

The grand arrivals for the November 22 card gave the fighters an opportunity to publicly express their views on fighting in Saudi Arabia. Benavidez and Yarde will be fighting for the first time in the country. This is also the case with Devin Haney, Brian Norman Jr., Jesse Rodríguez, Fernando Martínez, Abdullah Mason, and Sam Noakes. Many of them had been asked about how they felt fighting in the kingdom. The responses, unsurprisingly, were positive.

“I’m really happy to be here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” said Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) at the grand arrivals. “I’m happy to be able to perform for the beautiful people of Riyadh this Saturday.”

“I feel fantastic,” said Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs). “Glad to be here [in the] Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I’m happy to be here. Very, very happy.”

“Alhamdulillah [praise be to God] for this opportunity for me to be champion again,” said Haney (32-0, 15 KOs, 1 NC). “For me to be here in Riyadh, this is a dream come true of mine.”

Big Fight Weekend was able to speak with Mason and Noakes at the grand arrivals. Both men were asked about their decision to fight for the vacant WBO lightweight world title in Saudi Arabia as opposed to the US (where Mason is from) or the UK (where Noakes is from).

“Obviously it’s on neutral ground,” said Noakes (17-0, 15 KOs) to Big Fight Weekend. “To be fair, it’s becoming like the home of boxing now with the fights they’ve been putting on. I think we’re both fighters at the end of the day. We’ll fight wherever it is.”

“It just lets you know the magnitude of the fight card that we’re on,” said Mason (19-0, 17 KOs). “Four world- championship fights and this is what they doing. It just lets you know this is a huge fight card. It is not just me and Sam Noakes who are fighting…I’m excited to be on this fight card and be able to display on skills.”

David Benavidez and Anthony Yarde will not be the last to headline in the country

Although November 22 belongs to Benavidez and Yarde, it will not be the last time a major fight card is brought to Saudi Arabia. Naoya Inoue and David Picasso headline a card featuring other notable Japanese boxers just a month later. Claims have already been made about other prominent fighters making their way to the country in 2026.

Although boxers are (more than) content with heading to Saudi Arabia, it comes at the cost of fans in their home countries. Riyadh is thousands of kilometres away from the US and the UK where several of Saturday night’s fighters are from. Add to that the fact that the card is a PPV and you have yet another (albeit significantly smaller) barrier to view the action taking place on November 22. The boxers may feel “excited,” “fantastic,” and “happy” about being in Riyadh, but it does feel like boxing fans in their home countries who are unable to make the trip have been let down a little.