Canadian cruiserweight Ryan “The Bruiser” Rozicki (20-1-1, 19 KOs) will finally get his WBC cruiserweight title shot against defending champion Badou “The Ripper” Jack (20-1-1, 19 KOs) on May 3rd on the Riyadh Season’s high-profile card headlined by the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) versus William Scull (23-0, 9 KOs) for the world super middleweight championship. All the action will be stream live on DAZN pay-per-view. Proudly channeling his boxing idol, Hall of Famer Jack Dempsey, Rozicki is the WBC mandatory challenger for the third time, but he will now get his long-awaited shot. His promoter, Three Lions Promotions, won the purse bid and had originally secured a date and venue, April 26th at Centre 200 in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Negotiations led to Jack vs. Rozicki being added to the May 3rd show in Riyadh.
“We would like to thank his excellency Turki Al-Sheikh, David Ghansa from 258 Management, and WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman for making this fight possible. Ryan is fighting on the biggest stage possible, and he is more than ready. Come May 3rd there will be a new WBC cruiserweight champion,” Rozicki’s promoter Daniel Otter (Three Lions Promotions) proclaimed. “The world is going to witness the hardest puncher in boxing today. Rozicki is going to walk right through Jack and get him out of there early, mark my words!”
Rozicki, 30, has been the WBC’s mandatory challenger since 2023, first for then-champion Noel Mikaelyan (27-2, 12 KOs), who failed to make his ordered title defense with Rozicki. The WBC named Mikaelyan its “Champion In Recess,” returning Jack to its cruiserweight champion from his position as the WBC “Champion In Recess.” Age 41, Jack hasn’t fought since he captured the crown on February 26, 2023.
Rozicki’s aggressive, powerful style of fighting (“The Bruiser”) has been modeled after Dempsey and the two, despite Ryan being born nearly 100 years to the day after Dempsey, even look similar. “My style of fighting hasn’t been seen in Saudi Arabia,” Rozicki said. I’m going to knock him (Jack) out and end his boxing career. It’s that simple. These other fighters have been ducking and dodging me for long enough; I’m putting the whole division on blast, after I’m finished with Jack, I want Jai (Opetaia – IBF and lineal champion) and (Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ – WBA and WBO champion) next.”
The May 3rd card is absolutely loaded, arguably “The Event of the Year” from top to bottom. In addition to Canelo vs. Scully and Jack vs. Rozicki, other fights include middleweight Jaime Munguia (44-2, 35 KOs) vs. Bruno Surace (26-0-2, 5 KOs) in a rematch of their fight which was won by the latter in a major upset, as well as heavyweight hopeful Martin Bakole (21-2, 16 KOs) vs. Efe Ajagba (20-1, 16 KOs).
