Eddie Hearn has teased a monumental deal with Saudi Arabia’s boxing chief, Turki Alalshikh, on social media after they had a meeting in Riyadh.
The Matchroom boss posted to his personal Instagram, claiming to have made deals across multiple sports – including boxing.
“Astonishing night in Riyadh,” the post read. “Where else can you agree major deals across three different sports and shake up the boxing world all in two hours?”
This could be Hearn teasing that he has made an agreement with Alalshikh for Anthony Joshua’s return bouts in 2026.
AJ has not fought since his career-halting knockout loss to Daniel Dubois over a year ago at Wembley, and Hearn has said there is a list of 10 people that Joshua could fight.
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Joshua and his promoter recently met in Dubai, and, before the link-up, Hearn said they were hoping to confirm the former heavyweight champion’s return to the ring.
Hearn said recently: “Now he’s back in training and my conversations over the last couple of weeks have been very positive with him about locking in a date and returning.
“He’s like ‘let’s go, I’m back’ and that’s where we’re up to. So the next move is to lock in that fight in early 2026 and then we want Tyson Fury.
It is unclear if a fight with Fury is feasible, but Joshua intends to fight twice next year – one fight in early 2026 and then a big fight in the summer, ideally with Fury or, if he holds firm on his retirement, one last shot at a world title.
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Matchroom also promote darts, snooker and pool, which Alalshikh has recently expressed an interest in getting involved. Snooker and pool events promoted by Matchroom have previously been held in Saudi Arabia, but darts is yet to head over to the Middle East.
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