CRISTIANO RONALDO did not attend the boxing in Riyadh as expected last night.
The Portuguese star, 40, has been to plenty of events since moving to Saudi Arabia, and even sat next to Anthony Joshua for last year’s first fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.
Ahead of last night’s huge Last Crescendo show, topped by the rematch between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev, Sky Sports posted a video including a ringside seat labelled “CR7”.
As the huge night of boxing action unfolded, however, Ronaldo was nowhere to be seen.
With the main event nearing, the former Manchester United star’s absence was finally explained as he posted on social media.
Ronaldo uploaded a picture of himself with Saudi Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman.
The pair were at the Saudi Cup, the world’s richest horse race.
Ronaldo and Bin Salman witnessed Forever Young edge Romantic Warrior in the £16 million duel in the desert.
The forward wore a traditional Saudi thawb as he grinned for the picture.
He captioned it: “Happy to celebrate Founding Day with His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and honoured to attend the Saudi Cup horse race ceremony in Riyadh.”
Meanwhile, at the boxing, Ronaldo missed an incredible night that included Joseph Parker’s second round knockout of late stand-in Martin Bakole, and Bivol’s tight majority points victory over rival Beterbiev.
Ronaldo appeared to be in better spirits at the racing than he had been in 24 hours prior.
The Real Madrid icon was furious during the closing stages of Al-Nassr’s 3-2 home defeat to Al-Ettifaq.
Trailing in the closing stages following a double by former Liverpool star Georginio Wijnaldum, Al-Nassr were reduced to 10 men as new £64m signing Jhon Duran was sent off for lightly slapping rival player Abdulelah Almalki.
Ronaldo furiously contested the decision, and even booted a ball away in frustration.
The result left Al-Nassr fourth in the Saudi Pro League table, 11 points behind leaders Al-Ittihad after 21 matches.
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