Deontay Wilder shook off injury to retain his World Boxing Council heavyweight world title on Sunday morning as bloodied challenger Chris Arreola failed to answer the bell for the ninth round.
In front of his home fans in Birmingham, Alabama, Wilder remained undefeated in 37 fights, notching his 36th victory inside the distance with the technical knockout.
Arreola, 35, had absorbed immense punishment when his corner told the referee they wanted to end the fight.
He was bleeding from a cut on the bridge of his nose opened in the first round, and his left eye was nearly swollen shut.
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Wilder, 30, dropped Arreola in the fourth round, and after the challenger made the count of eight, assuring the referee he was good to go on, Wilder rocked him again at the bell.
The win looked all the more impressive when Wilder said in a post-fight interview he had broken his right hand and torn a muscle in his right arm.
“I wanted to give you guys a knockout, but I broke my hand and I tore a muscle,” Wilder told the in-ring interviewer as a cornerman applied an ice pack to his right biceps.
From the fifth round on he barely used his right, but punished Arreola with stinging lefts, sending him wobbling back to his corner at the end of the seventh.
Arreola, whose record now stands at 36-5 with one draw and 31 knockouts, fell to 0-3 in heavyweight title fights, all three of them stoppages.
He took the fight on short notice after Wilder’s scheduled title defence against Alexander Povetkin in May was undone by Povetkin’s positive test for meldonium.
The cancellation of that bout has resulted in lawsuits from the Povetkin and Wilder camps, but the champion showed no sign of the distractions in the ring.
He was quick to call out the other heavyweight world title holders, saying he would take on Britain’s International Boxing Federation champion Anthony Joshua or the winner of a title rematch between Britain’s Tyson Fury and Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko.
“My goal is to unify the division,” Wilder said. “Whoever’s got those belts, that’s who I want.”
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Through Her Lens: The stories behind the photography of Eva Sereny
Forewords by Jacqueline Bisset and Charlotte Rampling, ACC Art Books
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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Azhar Ali (capt), Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam, Haris Sohail, Imran Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Abbas, Yasir Shah, Usman Shinwari
