Written by: Sean Crose
“I just finished an important meeting now with my team,” Saudi boxing legend Turki Alalshikh wrote on social media on Tuesday, “planning the upcoming fights for 2024-2025.” Alalshikh then went on to discuss the highly anticipated (in some quarters) fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford. “I decided to ignore the Canelo fight,” said Aalshikh, “because I don't want it anymore.” Although he did not publicly say why, Canelo is rumored to have wanted a large sum of money. Also, Crawford is much smaller than super middleweight Canelo – which could make for a one-sided issue.
However, Aalshikh still has his mind on big events. “I will focus on the American market with big fights,” he said, “especially Crawford. Additionally, I will support the fights of Boots, Haney, Shakur, Ortiz, Anderson, Benavidez, Zepeda and others, in terms of -Tim Tszyu, there is something unclear about the communications from his team and our team, so I believe I will review his situation.
And it doesn't end there. “I'm focused on the Riyadh Season card,” added Aalshikh, “Wembley [sic] show on September 21 (AJ vs. Dubois) and depending on the results and results of the opening card of the Riyadh Season (Bivol vs. Beterbiev) on October 12, I will create a rematch card of Fury vs. Usyk December 21st and another big card in the first half of 2025. Stay tuned.”
As for Canelo, he has a September 14 fight ahead of him against Edgar Berlanga. Although Berlanga is not seen as Canelo's main challenger, it cannot be denied that this red star is at the point of his career where he can face anyone who wants him. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Crawford, who has only had one blockbuster fight (the absolute summer destruction of Spence) to his name.
Now that he's backed by none other than Alalshikh, however, Crawford could find himself in a lucrative and high-profile grind. Because, if anything can be said about Alalshikh it is that he can make remarkable battles happen. In short, he is a good friend to have in today's boxing scene. Canelo may disagree, but Alakshikh has already put together a large number of big fights, and there is no doubt that he will be planning more in the near future.
At least for now, however, Canelo-Crawford won't figure on his agenda.
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