Saudi Arabia’s deal with PGA is major step in relentless sportswashing saga

Looking back, so much of it was already there on that night in Diriyah when a storm raged across the desert and Anthony Joshua made history – and £60m – by retaining his world heavyweight title belts. Not just the good, the bad and the ugly of Saudi Arabia’s sporting ambitions, but the half-truths and accommodations of those willing to take the money and look the other way.

One moment from the fight in December 2019 lingers more than most: Joshua absorbing the cheers from the young crowd, many of whom were women in western clothes, before averting his gaze upwards towards the kingdom’s ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, and giving a fist-pump to the man who had made it all possible.

It felt disconcerting yet no one was really surprised. A couple of days earlier, Joshua had responded to questions about human rights by insisting the Saudis were “trying to do a good job politically” before adding: “I look around and everyone seems pretty happy and chilled … everyone seems to be having a good time.”

Perhaps Joshua was unwilling to delve any deeper into human rights for fear that those dissenting whispers could become a permanent stain on his conscience. Yet he was only the first sports star to display a sunny‑side‑up approach to the kingdom rarely seen outside its own PR campaigns. Only this week the 2020 US Open winner, Bryson DeChambeau, was claiming the Saudis were “trying to do good for the world and showcase themselves in a light that hasn’t been seen in a while” with LIV Golf.

Meanwhile, taking it all in was Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, who sported the look of a man whose lottery numbers had just come in on the same day he had hit an 11-team accumulator. “This really feels like a really big moment where everything could