The reality behind a fight in Saudi Arabia: human rights abuses shadow Fury’s visit
of Saudi, and its supposed representation by Saturday night’s bizarre fight between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou, when painful words echo from a few days ago.
Fury, the world heavyweight boxing champion, and Ngannou, the mixed martial arts heavyweight title holder for the UFC until last January, meet in a crossover bout meant to showcase the best of both disciplines and the uplifting transformation of Saudi into a gleaming new state where sporting icons beam down at the changes they are apparently helping to spread.
Monday I spoke to Lina al-Hathloul, a Saudi Arabian woman in exile in Belgium. Her sister Loujain al-Hathloul is the most internationally renowned female activist in Saudi Arabia. Loujain, 34, led the protests against the state ban which prevented women from being able to drive a car. She was arrested numerous times before, in March 2018, her family claim she was kidnapped in the United Arab Emirates and brought back to Saudi Arabia, where she was jailed for 1,001 days until her release in February 2021.
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