The Matchroom promoter says the Pyramids of Giza production is one of the most difficult boxing events ever assembled
Eddie Hearn says Saturday’s Oleksandr Usyk-Rico Verhoeven event beside the Pyramids of Giza will deliver a boxing spectacle unlike anything the sport has staged before. The Matchroom promoter described the production setup in Egypt as one of the most demanding operations his team has ever handled.
“This is something a little bit special, to be honest with you. Cairo was wild this morning. Arriving, and this is something special,” said Eddie Hearn to Seconds Out.
“And again, shout out to the team who are working very hard to make sure everything gets done in time, and it will go right to the wire. It will get done. But this is a monumental effort to operationally put something like this together, and the vision that Turki Alalshikh had and everybody had to do this is quite incredible.”
Hearn expanded on the scale of the event in another interview earlier in the day, describing the show as a “historic moment” for boxing while admitting the logistics behind staging a card beside the pyramids have been difficult.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like this before. And we won’t see anything like this again,” Hearn said.
“When you choose to do this, sometimes it seems like an extraordinary idea, but someone’s got to do it. On Saturday night, you’ll see a culmination of a great card, but a historic moment for the sport.”
The card is headlined by Usyk defending his heavyweight championship against kickboxing star Rico Verhoeven in one of the sport’s most unusual crossover fights. The event also features Jack Catterall against Shakhram Giyasov and Hamzah Sheeraz battling Alem Begic for the vacant WBO super middleweight title.
Even before the opening bell, the setting itself has become one of the biggest talking points around the event.
