Turki Alalshikh Eyes Canelo-Crawford Clash for Riyadh Season Superfight
12/04/2024 08:55 PM
Turki Alalshikh is homing in on a superfight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford.
It’s a fight that the world has been waiting to see. Unfortunately, nobody has been able to put it together, but that could all change soon as Alalshikh — the promoter who’s brought us Fury vs. Usyk, Joshua vs. Dubois, and Bivol vs. Beterbiev — is setting his sights on booking what could very well be the biggest boxing match of the 21st century thus far.
During a recent interview with DAZN, Alalshikh revealed that he has not been in direct contact with Canelo or his team, but hopes that word reaches the undisputed super middleweight world champion so they can sit down and work out a deal.
“I don’t know anyone now from the Canelo team, and I don’t have any connection, but if he’s hearing me, we are ready to discuss,” Alalshikh said. “But I want to discuss [with] him directly, without anyone in the middle” (h/t GiveMeSport).
Alashikh also has some big plans in store for former WBC heavyweight titleholder Deontay Wilder — including a potential clash with MMA sensation Francis Ngannou. However, Alalshikh is unwilling to jump straight into booking a bout between the two after seeing ‘The Bronze Bomber’ lose four of his last five fights, including an especially embarrassing performance against Zhilei Zhang in June.
“I can catch it from two minutes [and check] if [Wilder’s] ready or not [to fight]. I don’t want to waste time and money anymore,” Alalshikh added. “I need to check first if he’s still got it.”
As for Ngannou, Alalshikh is keeping his options open, but he has a couple of big possibilities lined up for the former UFC champion. One presumably being the fight with Wilder while the other remains a mystery, though it would see ‘The Predator’ return to the PFL Smart Cage in 2025.
“Yes, I have on the table two options for Francis — one in MMA and one in boxing I want to discuss with [Ngannou],” he revealed. “The MMA [fight], you know all the time, my answer is we want to do the biggest things.”
Turki Alalshikh Books the ‘greatest fight card of all time’ on February 22
While Alalshikh continues to line up big things for the coming year, Riyadh Season is already set to host one of the biggest boxing cards of the decade on February 22 in Saudi Arabia. In the main event of the evening, Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol will run back their instant classic from October that saw Beterbiev land a questionable majority decision victory to annex all four 175-pound titles.
In the co-feature, Daniel Dubois — who smashed his way through Anthony Joshua in September via a fifth-round TKO to claim the IBF heavyweight title — will put his gold on the line against Joseph Parker.
Also on tap is Shakur Stevenson who will defend his WBC lightweight title against undefeated prospect Floyd Schofield, and Vergil Ortiz is set to meet Israil Madrimov in a battle of top-five junior middleweights. Not to be outdone, top 10 ranked heavyweight Zhilei Zhang will square off with Agit Kabayel in a fight for the WBC interim heavyweight title.
Adding to the excitement is the fact that the pay-per-view extravaganza will only cost fight fans in the United States $25.99 — far less than the $100 price tag for Mayweather vs. McGregor in 2017 or a premium UFC event that’ll typically cost you $79.99 on top of an ESPN+ monthly subscription.
