Promoter Bob Arum tweeted, "Congratulations to His Excellency Turki Alalshikh for putting together a sensational card on November 22nd in Riyadh. WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr. [pictured] and lightweight sensation Abdullah Mason are tremendous young talents who will rise to the occasion. Arum's tweet was accompanied by an image stating Norman would be fighting undefeated two-division champion Devin Haney. If Haney can defeat Norman and Haney would be the underdog), Haney would add Norman's WBO 147-pound title to his resume.

 

Also tipped for the card is a 115-pound unification match between Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez and Fernando Martinez. However, Rodriguez has a unification fight scheduled for next week in Texas, when he will attempt to Phumelela Cafu's WBO title to the WBC version Rodriguez currently owns. Martinez is the WBA champion but also previously held the IBF title before giving it up to do a rematch with Kazuto Ioak. Both Rodriguez and Martinez are undefeated, so if all goes as planned, theNovember 22nd fight would be for true super flyweight supremacy.

 

The image also showed Mason fighting Sam Noakes, a fight Alalshikh previously announced on social media. That fight is expected to be for the WBO lightweight title which was recently lost on the scales by an overweight Keyshwan Davis. 

 

Alalshikh appeared to confirm the news, responding back to Arum, "Thank you, my big brother.  You are  a living legend in the boxing industry!"

 

The previously revealed main event for November 22nd will see David Benavidez defending his WBC light heavyweight world title against Anthony Yarde.

 

PRIOR BOXINGTALK COVERAGE

 

JUNE 30, 2025: Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia and the most powerful man in boxing, informally announced on social media that WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman will be defending his title vs. Devin Haney (pictured) in a battle on undefeated boxers, with Haney attempting to become a three-division champion. Alalshikh tweeted, "Thank you to [promoter] Bob Arum and [his company] Top Rank for working with us and Riyadh Season to deliver their [WBO welterweight] champion, Brian Norman, in a title defense vs. Devin Haney in November. More to come with Top Rank."

 

Haney, a former two-division champion, won his last fight vs. Jose Carlos Ramirez but fought very reluctantly and has received criticism for his safety-first style in that bout. Haney's strategy was very understandable in light his prior fight, in which he took a lot of punishment from an illegally enhanced Ryan Garcia. That fight was declared a no contest after Garcia tested positive for perfomrance enhancing substances. While the loss came off Haney's record, the punishment to his body did not. Haney's record as a pro is 32-0 with the one no contest vs. Garcia.

 

In his last fight, Norman  defended his title with a fifth-round knockout of hometown challenger Jin Sasaki at Ota City General Gymnasium in Tokyo.  This marked the second successful defense for the 24-year-old Norman (28-0, 22 KOs), an Atlanta native and boxing's youngest male world champion. Sasaki (19-2-1, 17 KOs) saw his nine-fight unbeaten streak end at the hands of Norman, who unleashed a powerful left hook that left him on the canvas for several minutes. “It was a wonderful fight. I had a great opponent in front of me. You all seen he got heart. That boy is not a slouch at all. I give nothing but props to him. I love ya’ll over here in Japan. I’d gladly come back," Norman said. “I knew whatever he was bringing to the table, I’m a champion for a reason. As you saw, I showed that.”