Heavyweight contender Derek Chisora has no problem with boxing events heading over to Saudi Arabia.
There has been controversy in recent years, with allegations that Saudi Arabia is shelling out huge sums of money to secure high profile sporting events in order to "sportwash" their image.
The country has been under fire for quite some time over human rights violations.
Last December, a group in Saudi Arabia paid a tremendous fee to secure the rematch between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz.
Despite the controversies surrounding the Middle Eastern nation, Chisora is happy to see fighters earning as much money as possible.
“My belief first of all was that Saudi Arabia was not great, but when I went there to see Saudi Arabia for myself, I was like ‘wow, this is amazing’. What happened before, a couple of years ago, that’s history. Now they’re opening up the gates to everybody," Chisora told radiotimes.com.
“I was there and the trip was unbelievable, I felt safe, I went to a good restaurant, we hung out. Yeah, they don’t allow alcohol, which is good, you know people enjoy life without alcohol so it was amazing.
“I think more fights should happen in Saudi Arabia. Right now, from what I’m hearing, they’re building a massive stadium which is going to be called the ‘Mecca of Boxing’. It’s going to be amazing.”
Chisora says the reason many UK boxers are looking to fight abroad is because the TV broadcasters are not paying talent enough money.
“The fighters will fight but they want to get paid more, and Saudi are saying they will pay more. Tell the TV broadcasters in London to pay the fighters more so they don’t have to go to Saudi," Chisora said.
“After this is all done, I look at Michael Sprott, you know. He was a good fighter, he never got paid so much money but now he’s doing deliveries for Amazon. And this was a good fighter. If he was there to fight in Saudi, he wouldn’t be doing that.
“There’s fighters out there, Kevin Mitchell, great fighter, he never made much money because they didn’t pay him. If the Saudi gates were open when he was fighting, he would’ve made money. I believe fighters should get more money so when they retire, they retire, they don’t do anything else apart from living a good life. They’ve earned it.”
Chisora was set to fight Oleksandr Usyk at the O2 Arena in May, but the bout was postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Because that contest likely requires an audience, there is no telling when or where the fight takes place - but promoter Eddie Hearn has not ruled out the scenario of taking it abroad.
