Messi and Ronaldo force whole new arena to be built

Messi and Ronaldo force whole new arena to be built for Anthony Joshua and Wilder fights

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's 'Last Dance' is being given priority over Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder's upcoming fights, with the boxers being forced to move venues

Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder have been KO’d by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The pair are in action this weekend in separate fights to tee up a potential 2024 showdown. And the bouts will be staged inside the newly-built Kingdom Arena here in Saudi Arabia that also staged Tyson Fury’s clash with Francis Ngannou in October.

But they’re building a temporary boxing venue within the arena and that’s because where the ring was placed for the Fury and Ngannou clash is being turned into a football stadium. Turf is currently being laid so that it is ready to stage Al-Nassr against Inter Miami clash in the Riyadh Season Cup on February 1.

That will see old rivals Messi and Ronaldo lock horns one more time after years of battles in La Liga with Barcelona and Real Madrid in what is being billed as ‘The Last Dance’.

The football stadium will hold 26,000 fans and will then be turned into Al-Hilal’s home ground - whose star player is Neymar - afterwards. But before that, the ring will return to the main stadium for Fury’s undisputed heavyweight clash with Oleksandr Usyk on February 17.

However, for Joshua’s clash with Otto Wallin and Wilder’s bout with Joseph Parker this weekend they’ve had to build an arena within the complex. That’s because the turf has just been laid and they can’t risk it being damaged ahead of the Riyadh Season Cup early next year.

It has led to a late change of plan with one idea to stage this weekend’s stacked heavyweight card outdoors. But now they’ve decided to go back inside like they did for Fury against Ngannou in October.

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It’s all part of the Saudi’s Riyadh Season which is a huge winter event full of sporting events and concerts.