Inside the Jeddah Super Dome - the record-breaking venue that will host Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr

Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk 2 has finally been confirmed and the heavyweight title rematch is heading to Saudi Arabia.

Eddie Hearn told talkSPORT that he would have liked to have seen the fight back in England so Joshua could have home field advantage, but Usyk’s team wanted the maximum amount of money and that meant taking it to Saudi Arabia.

Jeddah has been confirmed as the location for the showdown on August 20.

The fight will be confirmed to take place inside the Jeddah Super Dome, a 35,000-seater arena only opened in the middle of 2021.

The venue has been used for a major WWE pay-per-view already this year when it held Elimination Chamber back in March.

Standing over 46 metres height, with an outside diameter of 220 metres and covering 34,636 square metres of area, the dome became instantly notable for breaking two related building structure records.

It is now the largest continuous dome arena (non-openable), a record previously held by the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, and the world’s largest geodesic dome.

Having a heavyweight clash in the arena is pretty apt too given it has a ring beam constructed using 326 tonnes of steel to support its structure rings.

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And if you're driving down, it has a car park that can accommodate 5,200 vehicles.

AJ fought in Saudi Arabia in late 2019 when he reclaimed the IBO, IBF, WBA (super) and WBO world heavyweight titles from Andy Ruiz Jr.

But that fight took place in Diriyah at the Diriyah Arena, a building that was constructed in just 56 days.

That was an open stadium that held around 15,000 people. This time, AJ will have over double the audience.

The Jeddah Super Dome has held 23 events thus far, with most being concerts, while it's also been home to a motor show as well.

While the sporting world has continued to question events taking place in Saudi Arabia purely for money when they are many alleged human rights violations taking place in the country, Eddie Hearn defended the decision to talkSPORT.

"We get this question and we get it a lot – boxing, quite frankly, is not golf,” Hearn said.

“You’re dealing with people who are putting themselves on the line, putting their health on the line. It’s also, by the way, a 50/50 split, so we have absolutely no choice.

“We would have loved to have done this fight in London at Tottenham, because it gives a fighter home advantage. But, guess what? Usyk’s team was not really prepared to go to London when there was four or five times the amount of money to go elsewhere.

“This is a very interesting debate,” Hearn continued. “I’ve seen all the stuff going on with the PGA Tour. I repeat: This is not a game of golf.

“I have a responsibility to make sure these fighters come out of this sport with enough financial security to secure the next generation.

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Inside the Jeddah Super Dome - the record-breaking venue that will host Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr

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