Turki Alalshikh made an announcement Wednesday that should encourage even the hardest-to-please boxing fans.
The head of Riyadh Season and owner of
The Ring revealed through his X account that after meeting with Shay Segev, CEO of DAZN, they've decided that Riyadh Season and Ring cards will no longer be pay-per-view events. Subscribers of the global streaming service will be able to watch all Riyadh Season and Ring shows on DAZN without paying an additional fee, starting with "The Ring IV" on Nov. 22 at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
"Great meeting with my brother Shay, CEO of DAZN," Alalshikh wrote on X. "We have big vision to grow boxing and decide: No More Pay-Per-View. Starting with our @ringmagazine show in November, all Riyadh Season & The Ring events will be free to DAZN subscribers. The PPV model has damaged boxing, and we will no longer support it. We are with the fight fans."
There are two more DAZN PPV events on the schedule before this fan-friendly policy goes into effect in four months.
The first such show is scheduled for Saturday night, when
Oleksandr Usyk and
Daniel Dubois will square off in a heavyweight championship rematch. Usyk's Ring, WBA, WBC and WBO championships and Dubois' IBF belt will be at stake at Wembley Stadium in London.
The card headlined by Ukraine's Usyk and England's Dubois is neither a Riyadh Season nor Ring event. Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions is putting on that pay-per-view show, which costs $59.99 in the United States and £24.99 in the United Kingdom.
There is also a Riyadh Season PPV card scheduled for Aug. 16 at ANB Arena.
Emerging heavyweight prospect
Moses Itauma will face veteran
Dillian Whyte in an all-British main event. The price point for that show is $39.99 in the U.S. and £15.99 in the UK.
The Ring's first three shows since Alalshikh purchased the 103-year-old "Bible of Boxing" from Oscar De La Hoya — April 26 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, May 2 at Times Square in New York and
this past Saturday night at Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York — were all PPV events in the U.S. and UK.
DAZN drew intense criticism in 2022 because it went back on its pledge to eliminate boxing's PPV model when it entered the U.S. market in 2018. Moving away from PPV events again should strengthen its subscriber base in the U.S., where it will soon become the only network or streaming service to offer boxing content with any regularity, and the UK.
A 12-round bout between WBC light heavyweight champ
David Benavidez and British contender
Anthony Yarde will headline "The Ring IV" card Nov. 22. Former undisputed lightweight champ
Devin Haney will challenge WBO welterweight titleholder
Brian Norman Jr. in the 12-round co-feature.
Keith Idec is a senior writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing