When Tyson Fury fights Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia for the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO world heavyweight championship belts early tomorrow morning, he will reportedly earn £81.5m. And if pay-per-view sales are rosy, that could balloon to more than £100m.
Yet as both men prepare to step into the ring in Riyadh, history is also on their minds as, for the first time since Lennox Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield in November 1999, boxing will add a member to an exclusive club of undisputed heavyweight champions.
The legendary promoter Bob Arum, who even at 92 can sell a fight with the best of them, describes it as the "biggest event in boxing in decades". Unsurprisingly, that bullishness is shared by an executive from the streaming channel DAZN, which will show the fight to 20 million subscribers in more than 200 countries. "It will be the biggest pay-per-view fight in history," he says.
But aside from the hype and history, this fight is also about symbolism and shifting sands about where boxing is, and where Saudi Arabia is going.
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