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REGIONAL ROUND-UP
CLASH ON THE DUNES FROM THE ASTONISHING CONSTRUCTION OF THE PURPOSE-BUILT ARENA, TO THE AMBITIOUS PRODUCTION VALUES ON FIGHT NIGHT, EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT IS IMPRESSIVE. Ever since Andy Ruiz knocked out Anthony Joshua to cause one of the biggest upsets in boxing history, speculation was rife as to when and, more importantly, where, the rematch would take place. As soon as it was announced that Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, had beaten both New York’s Madison Square Garden and Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium to the rights to host the event, the race was on to ensure that everything would be in place for the first ever World Heavyweight Title fight to take place in the Middle East. In order to do justice to the momentous event, it was decided that an entirely new
ME
purpose-built arena would be constructed especially for the occasion. With just a six-week lead time, international event solutions company, Arena, completed the mammoth task of designing and installing the 15,000-seat Diriyah Arena and hospitality structure – all in time for fight night on 7 December. “We had just two weeks to develop the design concept before production started,” commented Elaine O’Dwyer, Design Director. “This meant that we had to really rely on our extensive knowledge of local material finishes and supplier capability in order to ensure that we were designing something that was
realistically deliverable in procurement and production timeframes.” O’Dwyer explained that, despite the tight deadline, Arena’s close relationship with the client made everything run smoothly. “Luckily, the client was aligned with our aesthetic and trusted our judgement, so we were on the same page regarding the finishes from the beginning,” she said. “There are a lot of detailed decisions to be made on a design and build project like this, so we worked very closely with suppliers to keep on top of that.” While Arena’s original role was the construction of the stadium and the build of the
