WBC And KHK Sports Unite To Create Arab Championship Boxing Title

After Saudi Arabia’s recent success in hosting the Anthony Joshua- Andy Ruiz rematch, boxing in the Middle East appears poised to experience an explosion in popularity.

The WBC (World Boxing Council), arguably the most prestigious of boxing’s four major sanctioning bodies, has announced this week that it will be establishing the world Arab championship belt.

The creation of the belt came about through a partnership between the WBC and KHK Sports, which was founded by Shaikh Khaled bin Hamad Al Khalifa, a member of the Bahraini royal family.

“The vision of His Highness Shaikh Khaled bin Hamad Al Khalifa for KHK Sports was to develop the sport from every perspective. From grassroots to the professional level,” said Mohammed Shahid, CEO of KHK Sports.

“What makes this special is the focus on the development of grassroots to bringing a new system into the sport of boxing. WBC is one of the largest and most reputed boxing bodies and the World Arab Championship belt will add a big opportunity for the future of boxing in the region.”

KHK Sports is also the company behind the Bahrain-based MMA promotion BRAVE CF, which is beginning to makes its presence felt in the MMA world.

The WBC’s establishment of a Middle Eastern title will provide fighters in the region with a clear roadmap to follow if they wish to ascend the sanctioning body’s rankings and earn themselves a shot at a WBC world championship.

” As an ambassador for [the] WBC, I’m very happy that such an important and experienced company in combat sports and MMA such as KHK Sports is interested and willing to be a big part of the most ambitious project in world boxing, transforming Bahrain and all the Middle East countries into the capital of world boxing,” said the WBC’s Luciano Planas Otero, Ambassador of WBC & Head of the Arabian Countries.

The rise of the Middle Eastern combat sports scene is something that fans and pundits will no doubt be paying more and more attention to over the coming years. It appears now that rather than a one-off spectacle, the Joshua-Ruiz bout could be a harbinger of things to come.

The WBC certainly think so.