By Elliot Worsell
GIVE a man a dog and there will be a limit to the things the man can get the dog to do, regardless of the animal’s obedient nature and its inherent desire to please. Give the man a treat, however, and there are very few things the dog will not do in order to earn this treat.
This is something you will see play out in countless parks up and down the country and it is also something we are currently seeing happen with boxing promoters in Saudi Arabia. Indeed, it is suddenly now, after years of trying to give the fans what they want, boxing promoters are finally delivering and in doing so making up for false promises and disappointment.
“But why now?” you might ask. Well, in answer to that, I would submit this: because at last they can smell the treat in their owner’s pocket. At last, having wanted for so long to be rewarded for their efforts, that is exactly what is happening and why, moreover, they are now willingly offering their paw, dropping flat on their bellies, and rolling over, all at the behest of the man with the deepest pockets and the biggest collection of treats.
The man, in this case, is the ambitious Turki Al-Sheikh, arguably the most powerful man in boxing right now. Known to all as “His Excellency”, Al-Sheikh has taken the sport by the scruff of its neck in recent months, as well as doing the same to its so-called power players, and has given it a thorough shake until all it has to offer him are puppy-dog eyes and a somewhat pathetic whimper; a sort of “please help me” cry.
The promoters, meanwhile, Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn, used to also be two of the most powerful men in boxing before not long ago realising what true power meant and rather than fight for it simply accepted their limitations and ceded to it. Now, perhaps wisely, they compete for their owner’s affections and, should he ask for it, think nothing of sniffing the other’s behind if it’s deemed a trick worthy of reward.
Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren fight for attention as Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou face off (DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images)
The latest trick asked of them, by the way, is an interesting one; most unexpected. It requires neither of them to hold hands or look lovingly into one another’s eyes but is something far more daring and exciting than that. Sexier, too.
“I want to see Eddie Hearn vs. Frank Warren,” said Al-Sheikh, the man in control of the treats, at this evening’s (January 15) press conference in London. “Five on five!”
Until the mention of “five on five” you would have been forgiven for thinking Al-Sheikh, having lulled them both into a false sense of security, now wanted to see Warren and Hearn do battle in the ring. Not only that, given Al-Sheikh invariably gets what he wants from the boxing establishment, there is every chance Warren and Hearn, if asked, would have happily gloved up and prepared to fight one another on March 8, the night Anthony Joshua has a boxing match against ex-UFC champion Francis Ngannou.
However, by mentioning “five on five” Al-Sheikh introduced to proceedings a far more tantalising prospect. By mentioning “five on five” what he was suggesting was that Warren choose five of his boxers and Hearn choose five of his and that both promoters then pit these boxers against each other on one night, same bill. In other words, he was suggesting something boxing fans have been desperate to see happen for a long time only to always be told that boxing politics would forever prevent fights between promotional rivals.
That, for Al-Sheikh, is no stumbling block, nor excuse. In fact, rather than simply propose the idea of Warren’s five vs. Hearn’s five, he even had them shake hands on it, meaning it is likely to come to fruition at some point in 2024.
In light of this, and in light of how easy it is for him to get them to jump, you then start to wonder what else the indomitable Al-Sheikh can get his two favourite promoters to do this year and beyond. You also wonder what can be achieved in more general terms, what with so many treats to go around and so many starving dogs.