Oliver Brown: Joshua-Dubois is an unashamed sportswashing exercise transforming London into Saudi Disneyland

On the surface, it is a night to encapsulate the resurgence of British boxing's might. Two London-born fighters are performing in front of 96,000 people at Wembley, the vastest crowd for any bout in this country since the Second World War. Every element of the staging is designed to rouse maximum patriotic fervour: a weigh-in at Trafalgar Square, a promotional video by Guy Ritchie, a three-song set by Liam Gallagher to tease next summer's Oasis reunion. So far, so stirring. Until you realise that all these adornments, right down to the plush lilac carpet unfurled for the grand arrivals in Leicester Square, are being bankrolled by Saudi Arabia.

"Riyadh Season: Wembley Edition" is how Anthony Joshua's duel with Daniel Dubois is billed. For catchiness, it is not quite "Battle of Britain". Or, as promoters Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren would have you believe, the "British version of Foreman versus Frazier". Yes, the poster might depict a glove in the colours of the Union flag. But it could just as well have been drawn in Saudi green. For this is one occasion where Britain is being used solely as a one-stop image-laundering shop, as a convenient vehicle for projecting the kingdom's cachet to the world.