Boxing at the Pyramids of Giza and What Else Takes Place There

Boxing at the Pyramids of Giza sounds like a gimmick from an advertising department. Since May 23, 2026, it has been a reality: on that evening, a ring for a professional boxing match stood before the monuments for the first time.

The plateau has thus finally become something it had not been for decades: a venue. Music came first, sports followed, and both operate under the same rules: an external organizer rents an area, sets up, hosts an evening, and dismantles again. The antiquities authority provides the site but does not decide on the program.

Sportingly, there are two very different categories. One is the one-off major event with worldwide broadcast, for which the backdrop is the actual reason. The other is a tournament that regularly returns and has almost become a tradition, even though few outside its sport know it.

Why organizers want this location is no secret. A backdrop like this cannot be replicated in any hall in the world, and it is instantly recognizable on television. A sports evening before the monuments produces images that get shared, and that is the real value for organizers, broadcasters, and sponsors. The sporting significance of an event is independent of that; it can be great or small.

Both categories are described here, with what actually took place and what a visitor gets out of it—or not.

The Boxing Evening of May 23, 2026

The boxing evening went under an English title that includes the location in its name and was the first of its kind at this site. It was scheduled for Saturday, May 23, 2026, broadcast worldwide online, and tickets were sold through an entertainment authority from the Gulf that has financed a significant portion of international heavyweight boxing in recent years.

In the ring were Oleksandr Usyk, the undefeated heavyweight world champion, and Rico Verhoeven, a Dutch kickboxer who had not fought a boxing match since 2014. On paper, that was a clear-cut affair. In reality, it was not.

The evening ended with a technical knockout in the eleventh round in favor of Usyk, one second before the end of the round. Up to that point, two of the three judges had scored the fight even or for the challenger. Usyk retained his titles and his undefeated record, but more narrowly than ever before. The opposing side subsequently filed a protest, and a rematch has been discussed ever since.

One should also consider who pays for such events. International heavyweight boxing has been largely financed from the Gulf region for several years, and this evening was also marketed from there; the ticket sales were announced by a state entertainment authority. For Egypt, this means visibility without its own risk; for evaluating the evening, it means that the choice of location has less to do with Egyptian sports policy than with the search for the most striking backdrop.

So if you search for Usyk at the Pyramids of Giza, you are looking for an evening that has already taken place. Whether a second one follows is open; if you want to see Usyk against Verhoeven in Giza again, you will have to rely on a recording.

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Entry ticket for the site as a QR code

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• The ring is gone, the place is not: the area south of the monuments is regularly accessible
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The Squash Tournament in Front of the Great Pyramid

Much less known and much more enduring is the second category: a squash tournament that has been held in front of the Great Pyramid for years.

Play takes place on a fully glassed court that is specially erected on the sand and visible from all sides. Spectators sit all around, with the monument behind. The tournament belongs to the highest category of its tour and is therefore not a showpiece but a date that the world's elite takes seriously. The venue in front of the pyramid returned there in 2025 after three years, having been played elsewhere in the meantime.

What is remarkable is the split. Not the entire tournament is played in front of the pyramid, only the decisive rounds. The early rounds with the large field take place in a regular facility in the city, and only those who advance far enough play against the backdrop. This is practical because a glass court is elaborate and only one is needed, but it has a nice side effect: the location is literally a prize.

Two things make this tournament more interesting for a German audience than the sport might suggest. First, Egypt is the dominant nation in this discipline, with the world number ones in both women's and men's rankings, and the tournament is accordingly a home game. Second, it pays men and women the same prize money, which is still the exception in sports overall.

That such a tournament also produces stories was shown by the 2025 edition: a player ranked 252nd in the world defeated the world number three, one of the biggest upsets this sport has ever seen, and right in front of this very backdrop.

How Such Evenings Work in Practice

In practice, these evenings run differently than one might expect from a tourist attraction, and this also affects visitors who do not attend.

The first difference is the timing. Sports events of this magnitude almost always take place in spring or autumn, because in high summer neither athletes nor audiences can endure hours on open sand, and in winter the nights are too cool for a seated audience. This coincides with what is anyway the most pleasant travel time and increases the chance of stumbling upon one by chance.

A boxing match at the Giza Plateau is initially a construction site. The ring, stands, lighting, camera technology, and power supply are set up over days on open sand and then disappear again. During this time, the affected area in the south of the site is restricted, and this is not announced when buying regular tickets. If you come during such weeks, you will find trucks instead of a view.

Tickets for such events are available exclusively from the respective organizer, not from the antiquities authority and not through excursion providers. A ticket for a sports evening is also not an entry ticket to the site: you see the illuminated monuments from your seat; a tour is not included.

And the same caveat applies as for concerts. Public events in Egypt require permits that can also be withdrawn at short notice, and there is experience with canceled events at this location. A trip booked solely because of an announced sports evening is therefore a risk.

Dates are announced with a few weeks to months of lead time and are subject to the approval of the professional association of musicians.

Accommodation within walking distance for an event evening. Such evenings end late, and the journey back across the city is the most unpleasant part afterward. If you stay in the district east of the site, you can walk, and many hotels offer free cancellation in case an event is canceled. Three hotels that cover this:

At the Sphinx

Giza Pyramids View Inn

Sphinx Street 10, Nazlet el-Samman

• Good breakfast
• Airport shuttle
• Two restaurants
• 24-hour reception
• Free Wi-Fi

For those who want to see the Sphinx from their breakfast chair

from 25 €/night

View

Most reviewed

Great Pyramid Inn

Abu-al-Hol Street 14, a few minutes to the gate

• Fabulous breakfast
• Rooftop terrace restaurant
• Bar
• Airport shuttle
• 24-hour reception

Most who want to stay in the neighborhood

from 27 €/night

View

Garden & pool

Marriott Mena House

North side, at the former main entrance

• Excellent breakfast
• Outdoor pool
• Spa and wellness center
• Three restaurants
• Fitness center

For those who want space, garden, and pool instead of a rooftop terrace

from 230 €/night

View

What Remains: Nothing Visible

The question remains what remains of all this, and the answer is: nothing visible, and that is intentional.

After each of these evenings, the area is cleared. There is no stadium, no permanent stands, and no memorial plaque. If you walk across the site today, you may be standing exactly where the ring was set up and not notice anything. For a monument of this kind, that is the right solution, even if it disappoints fans.

What remains is the backdrop itself, and it is more accessible on an ordinary morning than at any event evening. If you want to see the area south of the monuments without barriers, stands, or floodlights, all you need is an entry ticket and the first hour after opening.

For travel planning, this means two things. If you come for a specific evening, you plan around that date and take in the site the day before or after. If you are already there and happen to catch an event, you are lucky. And if you have seen the images and come because of them, you should know that you will see the place but not the event.

For the site itself, transience is an advantage. Everything that is set up is also dismantled again, and no one has to argue about a permanent spectator facility next to a 4,500-year-old monument. The price is that every event starts the setup from scratch, and the strain occurs more frequently than with a permanent facility.

What does remain is the external impact. An evening of this kind reaches an audience that is not interested in antiquities, and some of them later return as visitors. That is exactly what the rental of the site aims for, and in that respect it works.