USYK vs JOSHUA II: BEHIND THE SCENES
TAKE THE exit.” That is how eight days and nights at a fight in Jeddah should start. And end, by the way.
I was driving near midnight on my way from the airport. I could see where the boxers had their names in lights, their giant faces were wrapped on covers and draped over buildings. Elsewhere the skyline twinkled, it really did. Directions, not so glittery.
The boxing functions started: intimate, open, grand and serious. There was also a dozen or more undercard dreamers; men and women from many obscure fighting countries, but all part of the same boxing tribe for one week. Behind the curtain for the weigh-in on the Friday, they were brutally segregated: losers on the left, winners on the right. It was part of the game.
The undercard had storylines, twists, turns, a few hopeless contenders and wonderful fighters. Also, a couple of nuisances. There was a Popeye character, the
