The February 22 card in Riyadh is considered a candidate for the best boxing event in the history of the sport. Some excellent cards in the distant past can compete with the proposed February 22 card for quality fights.
Proposal of February 22 Riyadh Card
– Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker
– Shakur Stevenson vs. Floyd Schofield
– Jaron Ennis vs. Vergil Ortiz
– Hamzah Sheeraz vs Carlos Adames
– Zhilei Zhang vs. Agit Kabaiel
Historical comparisons
September 28, 1979 Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
– Larry Holmes vs. Earnie Shavers
– Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Andy Price
– Roberto Duran vs. Zeferino Gonzalez
– Wilfredo Gomez vs. Carlos Mendoza
May 8, 1993 The Mirage, Las Vegas
– Gerald McClellan vs. Julian Jackson
– Lennox Lewis vs. Tony Tucker
– Julio Cesar Chavez vs. Terrence Ali
The two 70s and 90s cards more than rival the February 22nd card in terms of competitive matchups. The February event could surpass these maps with some minor tweaks with the matchmaking.
The Feb. 22 Riyadh card features two excellent fights: undisputed lightweight champion Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol and Vergil Ortiz vs. Jaron Ennis. These two stand out. However, these fights are not yet official, and none of the six fights on the card are a done deal.
The rest of the card involves good fights with predictable results. They are not 50-50 matchups. For example, WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson will defend against Floyd Schofield.
The Zhakur-Schofield fight is a mismatch because Schofield is still a 22-year-old rookie who has yet to cut his teeth against a top-level opponent during his four-year career. He fought as a professional until Jake Paul and has a similar resume.
“If this card is true, it’s the biggest wrestling card I’ve ever seen in my life. I can’t remember all the wrestling cards I’ve seen,” said Ade Oladipo on his YouTube channel, talking about the card of February 22 in Riyadh.
It’s unclear how long Oladipo has followed boxing because he sounds like a casual fan, not someone who’s watched the sport since he was a kid.
“A lot of people talk about Don King’s fight cards in the 1980s. I don’t remember them. Honestly, you could have Zhang vs. Kabayel as the first fight of the night. Are you kidding me? It’s a card of incredible fight. What have you got here? Three world title fights, one undisputed fight.
“You have two guys in Vergil Ortiz and Boots Ennis who are supposed to be or at least destined to be the future of American boxing, and you have Shakur Stevenson vs. Floyd Schofield. It’s almost too good to be true. I expect a couple of them to get knocked out .
The Saudis would have insisted Shakur fight someone with at least a chance to win, such as Andy Cruz, Keyshawn Davis, Raymond Muratalla, or Abdullah Mason.
“As much as I’m all for a big fight card, of course you want to save something for another big fight card down the line. It’s pretty much something for everyone, like for every region of the world. The British, we’ve got something (Sheeraz). With Zhang, you do the Asian market.”
Zhang is 41 years old and was recently beaten by Joseph Parker. Having him on the card makes for a fun fight, but he’s probably too old to beat Kabayel. Matching Parker against Kabayel would have been a better fight, as would putting Zhang with Dubois. Those will be fun fights.
“So you have Floyd Schofield, Shakur Stevenson, Boots Ennis and Vergil Ortiz for the American market. You literally checked every box,” Ade said.
Ennis-Ortiz is a keeper and could easily be the main event on this card because it’s probably more fun than the Beterbiev-Bivol rematch 2. Again, the Saudis have to reject the Shakur vs. Schofield fight because it’s scheduled to be a mix.
Before William Zepeda suffered a hand injury, he and Shakur talked about fighting in February, and it would have been interesting. But Schofield is too young and inexperienced to fight Shakur. This fight will probably leave fans unhappy.
