A new fight week kicks off for the Riyadh Season, which will feature a big 5 vs 5 event between Matchroom and Queensberry teams, which will feature Dmitry Bivol and Malik Zinad in contention for the World Boxing Association (WBA) light heavyweight belt. 

Bivol and Zinad will be in the main fight of the card and will not be part of the showdown between the fighters of the two promotions. The Russian champion will put his 175-pound belt on display once again and hopes to make another strong impression at the Kingdom Arena. 

With an eight-year reign, Bivol is one of the most solid champions in boxing and has defeated great opponents including Saul Alvarez, Jean Pascal and Gilberto Ramirez. The black and gold monarch was originally scheduled to fight Arthur Beterbiev but an injury to his opponent prevented him from challenging for the undisputed title. 

Now he will have to face Libya’s Zinad, who has a historic opportunity and will try to upset the challenger. The 30-year-old fighter knows the responsibility he has in this big event and wants to make a big impression in the most important fight of his career so far. 

The event will feature fighters from both promotions in interesting match-ups, including the WBA featherweight world title fight between champion Raymond Ford and challenger Nick Ball. 

In addition, Deontay Wilder will face Zhilei Zhang at heavyweight, Daniel Dubois will fight Filip Hrgovic also at heavyweight, Austin Williams and Hamzah Sheeraz will fight at light heavyweight and Craig Richards will face Willy Hutchinson at light heavyweight. 

A number of promotional activities will take place this week leading up to the evening and on Friday they will step onto the scales, the last step before the big event on Saturday.