Frank Warren Hails Loaded February 22 Riyadh Season Card

The rumoured loaded Riyadh Season card for February 22 has now been confirmed with four full world title bouts and three fights for interim titles taking place. There were rumours of a fascinating matchup between Jaron Ennis and Vergil Ortiz Jr. – but those rumours went away following a much-publicised fallout over what weight the fight would be at. Despite that fight not taking place, this is the definition of a loaded card, and Frank Warren has reacted to the strength of this card when speaking to talkSPORT.

Frank Warren Praises Riyadh Season Feb. 22 Card

Beterbiev vs Bivol Headlines Last Crescendo Riyadh Season Event

News of the Feb. 22 event has got the boxing world looking forward to this stacked card. The Vergil Ortiz Jr vs. Israil Madrimov bout has an extra layer of intrigue with the Uzbek fighter set to face Serhii Bohachuk on the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk undercard and will now face Ortiz just eight weeks later.

The rest of the card is full of evenly matched fights which makes this event such an impressive card. Speaking ahead of the February 22 card at the Kingdom Arena, Warren has spoken on the impact Riyadh Season have had on boxing since their involvement: “I said at the time, when Riyadh Season got involved, this was going to be a game changer,” he told talkSPORT. He continued: “But even I didn’t realise what a game changer it was going to be.”

Talking about the Feb. 22 event, the Queensberry founder said: “This card on the 22nd, it’s going to be something special. Every fight on there is a magnificent fight. I’ve never seen a card like it. It’s so spectacular.”

The Last Crescendo Full Fight Card

• Artur Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) will defend his undisputed light heavyweight crown against Dmitry Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) in their much-anticipated rematch for all the belts.
• Daniel Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) will defend his IBF heavyweight title against Joseph Parker (35-3, 23 KOs).
• WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) will defend his title against unbeaten prospect Floyd Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs).
• WBC middleweight champion Carlos Adames (24-1, 18 KOs) will defend his title against the No. 1 contender and KO specialist Hamzah Sheeraz (21-0, 17 KOs).
• WBC super welterweight interim titlist Vergil Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) will defend his belt against the dangerous Israil Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs). Incredibly, the Uzek fighter is set to face Serhii Bohachuk on the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk undercard and will face Ortiz just eight weeks later.
• An intriguing all-British light heavyweight fight will take place with Joshua Buatsi (19-0, 13 KOs) defending his WBO interim belt against Callum Smith (30-2, 22 KOs).
• The WBC interim title has been made available by the organization and will be contested by the heavy-handed duo of Zhilei Zhang (27-2-1, 22 KOs) and Agit Kabayel (25-0, 17 KOs).

Stay with Big Fight Weekend for the full build-up to the loaded card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.