Ziyad Al Maayouf out to write new chapter for Saudi Arabia boxing at Paul-Fury fight night

Saudi Arabian professional boxer Ziyad Al Maayouf will this weekend represent the Kingdom again in the ring as part of the card headlined by Jake Paul's long-awaited clash against Tommy Fury.

Al Maayouf made history last August, when on debut he defeated Mexican opponent Jose Alfredo Alatorre via first-round knockout to become the first fighter from the Kingdom to win a pro boxing bout. The encounter was part of “Rage on the Red Sea”, the fight night headlined by the world heavyweight clash between Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua.

On Sunday, Al Maayouf returns to action, taking on Ecuador’s Ronnald Martinez (3-1-1) at Diriyah Arena.

Firstly, my journey with sport began with tennis. At that time, there were no boxing role models in Saudi Arabia to look up to, while football was the most popular sport by far. We also didn’t have independent complexes for specific sports, only large facilities for all sports without any dedicated spaces to train. I'd always go home and google ‘Arab world champion boxing’ or ‘Saudi Arabia boxing’ and nothing was ever found.

This made me curious, as I knew there was so much history to be written in the sport. My parents were against martial arts and combat sports due to the violence aspect, so I boxed behind my dad’s back for about a year-and-a-half until one day, my dad went to pick up my brother from tennis.

When he didn’t find me there, he found me in the boxing area. I had to prove so much to my parents, my family and myself, in terms of why I deserved to be in this sport and belonged here. I was dedicated right away, and it was never ‘just a hobby’. Until a year or two ago, my father thought this was just a hobby for me.

In Saudi Arabia, we’ve never been exposed to the sport. I plan on