Those who watch the Andy Ruiz Jr.-Anthony Joshua rematch on DAZN will notice something different: no round card girls.
That boxing tradition, in which women hold up cards indicating the round that is coming up, has been scrapped by promoters out of respect for the culture of Saudi Arabia, where the heavyweight championship fight will take place on Dec. 7.
The Middle Eastern country requires women to be covered in public. Thus, scantily clad young women probably would not go over well.
The WWE, which held an event in Riyadh last month, had its women wrestlers wear modest clothing in the ring.
“We need to be respectful of the cultures in the countries we perform in,” the WWE’s Stephanie McMahon said.
Ruiz (33-1, 22 knockouts) is scheduled to defend the titles he took from Joshua (22-1, 21 KOs) in June. Ruiz, a big underdog, put Joshua down four times and stopped him in the seventh round in New York.