Boxing returns to the forefront of Riyadh Season in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, August 16th with four big fights currently scheduled. Top of the bill is a heavyweight showdown between the 20 year-old Moses Itauma taking on former title challenger Dillian Whyte in a major test of his current credentials... Featherweight star Nick Ball, 28, will make a third defense of his WBA world title when he goes up against Sam Goodman... IBO 130-pound champion Anthony Cacace will take on ex-featherweight champ Ray Ford, with the American having moved up a division... Back at heavyweight, another two Queensberry fighters will trade bombs when Filip Hrgovic goes up against the British champion David Adeleye and... Elsewhere on the card, Japanese featherweight talent Hayato Tsutumi will face former British Olympian Qais Ashfaq.

 

Itauma defeated Mike Balogun last time out in May via a second round stoppage. Whyte, age 37, previously held the WBC interim belt and challenged Tyson Fury for the full world championship at Wembley Stadium in April 2022.

 

Both the British Ball and the Australian Goodman are undefeated, with Ball having defended the belt he won against Ray Ford in June of last year against Ronny Rios and TJ Doheny. Goodman, age 26, was due to take on Naoya Inoue at the beginning of the year, but was forced to withdraw due to suffering a cut in sparring. He now steps up a weight for his maiden world title shot.

 

Cacace has defended his IBO belt on four  occasions - against Damien Wrzesinski, Joe Cordina, Josh Warrington and, most recently in May, Leigh Wood - and now he returns to the scene of his triumph over Cordina, from whom he took the IBF world title from. Ford has fought twice since Ball inflicted a first defeat on his record, with his last appearance coming in April when he defeated Thomas Mattice.

 

Hrgovic, age 33, defeated Joe Joyce in April over ten rounds to bounce back from his first career defeat against Daniel Dubois, while Adeleye, age 28, seized the Lonsdale belt with victory over Jeamie Tshikeva in Manchester, having previously won the English title with a first round stoppage of Solomon Dacres.

 

“This is a fantastic card and platform for the Queensberry fighters to shine once again in Saudi Arabia as part of Riyadh Season,” said promoter Frank Warren. “The finest young heavyweight in the world in Moses Itauma taking a gigantic step forward against Dillian Whyte will grab most of the attention and it deserves to, but Nick Ball defending his world title against Sam Goodman is a terrific scrap between two undefeated fighters.

 

“Anto Cacace against Ray Ford has got all the makings of a true classic and we all know just how good both men are, plus we’ve got a battle between two heavyweight contenders jockeying for position in Filip Hrgovic and David Adeleye.”