Joshua-Wilder fight in Dubai a reality: Hearn
British boxer’s promoter takes heart after success of Groves-Smith in Jeddah
Europe’s finest golfers recaptured the Ryder Cup on Sunday, holding off a dramatic United States fightback to complete an emotional upset victory with Italy’s Francesco Molinari clinching the outcome.
Reigning British Open champion Molinari defeated five-time major winner Phil Mickelson 4 and 2 to give Europe an insurmountable 14 1/2-9 1/2 lead over the favoured Americans in the biennial team showdown at Le Golf National.
“It was amazing,” Molinari said. “It’s an incredible achievement. We did just an amazing job.”
In the process, Molinari — who had been winless in six prior Ryder Cup matches — became the first European and only the fourth player ever to go 5-for-5 in a Ryder Cup and did so just two months after hoisting the Claret Jug. “It feels great but it’s not about me,” he said. “It was about time to have them but it’s about the group not the individual.
“I couldn’t even dream of a summer like this.”
Europe had seized a 10-6 edge in Saturday’s foursomes and fourballs matches and needed only 4 1/2 points from Sunday’s 12 singles matches to swipe the trophy.
The US team needed to match the greatest last-day comebacks in Ryder Cup history by taking eight singles points to keep the Cup, but there was no French magic like Europe’s 2012 ‘Miracle at Medinah’ or the Americans’ 1999 victory in the ‘Battle of Brookline’.
The Americans, who haven’t won in Europe since 1993, lead the alltime rivalry 26-14 with two drawn but the Europeans’ ninth victory in the past 12 attempts gave them an 11-8 with one drawn edge since expansion from a British-Irish squad after 1977.
Americans pulled within 10 1/2-9 1/2 on Sunday before Europe’s first singles victory came from Danish ■ rookie Thorbjorn Olesen, who beat three-time major winner Jordan Spieth 5 and 4. Spain’s Jon Rahm followed by downing Tiger Woods 2 and 1, keeping the 14-time major champion winless in four matches this week and snuffing out any US momentum.
‘Best feeling of my life’
Rahm, who led after all but one hole, pumped his fists and screamed with joy after his winning four-foot birdie putt, which came after a threeputt bogey at the par-3 16th, left Europe two wins from victory. “To beat Tiger, one of the greatest players of all time, for the pivotal point, it’s the best feeling of my life,” Rahm said.
England’s Ian Poulter, Europe’s wildcard talisman, birdied the 18th hole to beat world No. 1 Dustin Johnson 2-up and put Europe on the brink of victory.
That set the stage for Molinari to clinch the win after Mickelson found water at 16 and conceded.
Spain’s Sergio Garcia, last year’s Masters champion, followed that by beating Rickie Fowler 2 and 1, vaulting him to 25.5 career Ryder ■ Cup points, since making his debut in 1999, breaking Nick Faldo’s old mark of 25.
The 38-year-old Spaniard, a controversial wildcard pick by captain Thomas Bjorn after a poor season, said: “I don’t usually cry, but I couldn’t help it. What a week.” Garcia had endured a difficult year, missing the cut at all four majors, but was still selected by Bjorn on the strength of his Ryder Cup performances down the years. “It’s been a rough year, but we fought hard, I’m so thankful to Thomas Bjorn for believing in me,” he said. “I’m so happy to get the Cup back and in Paris and to enjoy it as much I did.”
Matches stood on a knife’s edge deep into the afternoon, the Americans clinging to hopes as tension built across the back nine.
Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy endured a last-hole collapse and lost 1-up to American four-point rookie Justin Thomas in the opening match. ■
It’s only a matter of time before a mega-fight comes to Dubai or Abu Dhabi after the success of Friday’s Groves-Smith bout in Jeddah, according to Eddie Hearn, the promoter of Anthony Joshua and Amir Khan.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi have continually been linked to hosting a big boxing event, and Hearn, the managing director of Matchroom Sport, says he gets two to three requests a week from the region. However, he claimed that negotiations have often stalled during monetary negotiations.
Now though, after the success of the groundbreaking Groves-Smith fight in Jeddah, other GCC cities might start to reconsider, especially with huge fights like Joshua-Wilder and KhanPacquiao on the horizon. “We’ve done darts events in Dubai and we speak to them all the time, that’s ready-made for a major boxing event, as is Abu Dhabi,” he said, on the sidelines of the Groves-Smith fight in Saudi Arabia.
“It could happen anytime, it only takes for someone to actually come up with the money, because all these fights they’ve talked about hosting like Mayweather-Pacquiao, they haven’t come up with the money, ultimately that’s why they haven’t happened.
“They’ve got to the stage where someone says right ‘send the money’ and it’s never come, maybe that’s because it was too much money, but to bring that kind of fight here rather than America or London, you need an excuse and that excuse is money.”
Not holding the event in the US or UK leads to losses that need to be compensated, he explained. “You’re losing live gate receipts and proportions of pay-per-view revenue because of the fact it’s not on home soil and the timing is a little different, so it would cost anywhere between $30-$50 million for a sizeable fight ranging from Joshua-Wilder to Khan-Pacquiao [to come to the UAE].
“We could do smaller level stuff, but we don’t really need to go to those territories, we’ve got a great thing going, but if someone came up with sizeable money we could take a sizeable fight there.”
Hearn added that the success of Jeddah would now force Dubai and Abu Dhabi to take notice. “I think what’s good about this [Groves-Smith] is that it might have woken people up in those territories to think ‘oh they did it and it went down quite well actually.’
“I’d love to do an event in Dubai if they come up with the money, and they can come up with the money, they’ve done it with golf and have even held a few MMA events in Abu Dhabi because they think that’s quite hot, but boxing is getting hotter and hotter, so it’s only a matter of time.
“Saudi probably isn’t the right place to hold a Joshua-Wilder fight, Brits can’t get visas, and also after paying the site fee, Saudis aren’t getting revenue from these events because they are giving tickets away, but with Dubai you have the ability to do a gate, sell tickets and bring in international TV for pay-per-view with world sponsorship as well.”
As a final takeaway from the Groves-Smith fight, he added: “It’s comforting to know boxing is relevant, expanding and popular in these territories, because I wouldn’t have known, I didn’t expect this, I’m not saying it’s an amazing crowd” — a 10,000 capacity indoor arena was over three quarters full — “but it’s a better atmosphere than I’ve seen in many events around the world.”
To beat Tiger, one of the greatest players of all time, for the pivotal point, it’s the best feeling of my life.” Jon Rahm » Team Europe