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Fans criticized the atmosphere in Saudi Arabia as “heartless” in the run-up to Anthony Joshua’s fight with Francis Ngannou.
Joshua and Ngannou headlined the 10-fight ‘Knockout Chaos’ card at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, which was built last year.
AJ knocked down Ngannou three times in a sensational opening to the fight, bringing it to a quick finish in the second round.
The sport’s great and good are in attendance, including Tyson Fury, Ronaldo Nazario and José Mourinho, but boxing fans aren’t too impressed with the energy in the arena.
‘Boxing really sold its soul to Saudi Arabia. What a soulless atmosphere that is. Shocking,” wrote one on X, formerly Twitter.
‘They could use this Saudi boxing venue for training American astronauts because there is no atmosphere. There have been louder fight nights at Bracknell Leisure Centre,” said sports commentator Ian Darke.
Spectators have entered the “soulless” and “dead” atmosphere of Saudi Arabia to watch the Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou card.
“There is no atmosphere at these Saudi boxing matches,” wrote another.
“The Saudi atmosphere makes me think this could be a Covid fight without fans,” another commented.
The stadium often serves as the home of Al-Hilal, a Saudi Pro League soccer club that counts Neymar among its highest-paid stars.
AJ and Ngannou were lined up to contest the co-main event on the ‘Knockout Chaos’ card, following Joseph Parker’s majority decision victory over Zhilei Zhang.
Parker survived two knockdowns from Zhang to claim the WBO interim heavyweight title.