Canelo Alvarez v Turki Alalshikh: A Battle Between Boxing Powers

August 7, 2024
3 months
Canelo Alvarez during a press conference to promote his fight with Edgar Berlanga

One of the most striking aspects of Saudi Arabia’s global boxing takeover has been the continued absence of Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez from any of Turki Alalshikh’s shows.

Alalshikh, boxing’s new power broker, has made clear through action his ambitions to position Saudi Arabia at the center of the fight game, both at home and now abroad.

Riyadh has become the new home of the heavyweight division, hosting the biggest and best fights in the city including a string of Anthony Joshua bouts and the undisputed world title fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, plus its rematch in December.

The undisputed light-heavyweight title bout featuring unified champion Artur Beterbiev and WBA titlist Dimitry Bivol will also be held in Riyadh in October, while the 5-vs-5 event in June provided a bit of everything. Many more shows will inevitably be announced.

Canelo Only Focused On Berlanga

Under the guise of ‘Riyadh Season’, the takeover has also gone international; last Saturday’s mega-card in Los Angeles, headlined by Terence Crawford’s successful attempt to become a four-weight world champion, will be followed in September by Daniel Dubois v Joshua in London, England – and this is only the beginning.

It’s curious, then, that Alalshikh is yet to partner up with the biggest star in the sport, and following developments in recent days, there could even be tension brewing between him and Canelo.

Unified super-middleweight champion Alvarez has been busy promoting his September 14 bout with Edgar Berlanga, and he revealed in an interview on Tuesday that Alalshikh contacted him this week about the possibility of a blockbuster showdown with fellow pound-for-pound star Crawford.

“They called me yesterday,” Alvarez told PPV.COM. “They wanted to meet with me and see about the fight with Crawford in February. I said, ‘Look, I’m not interested in talking about another fight. After September 14, we can talk. But not right now.’”

Alalshikh Accuses Alvarez Of Time Wasting

Prior to Canelo’s interview, Alalshikh had already taken to social media and seemed to aim a dig at the Mexican superstar.

“Just wrapped up an important meeting now with my team, planning for the upcoming fights that we will make for 2024-2025. I decided to disregard the Canelo fight, as I don’t want it anymore. Instead, I will be focusing for the U.S. market with bigger fights, especially for the legend Crawford.”

He then followed that up with a tirade directly aimed at Canelo on Wednesday, writing: “I heard what Canelo said that he respects me but doesn’t like the way we do business. As for him respecting me, it doesn’t matter to me if he does or not. As for the way I do business, I know why he doesn’t like it, because I only target big fights at fair prices, so of course anyone who likes easy fights won’t like that.

“And I know how he feels after losing to Bivol, so he’s been looking for easier fights ever since. Also, I’m not the one who’s afraid of fighting Benavidez or Crawford. Therefore, I knew he was wasting our time and making excuses with big amounts of money that can’t be paid. So I’m continuing my way to make big fights that serve the boxing world, and he’s on his way to making easy show-only fights.”

Alalshikh is not someone who is usually left hanging; the most powerful figures in boxing refer to him as “His Excellency” and he was given an honorary induction into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame, despite never hosting a single fight in the state.

Canelo, however, will not be fawning over Alalshikh anytime soon, and the tension between the two boxing powers could perhaps be traced back to when the Saudi said he would invest in the UFC’s event on the same day as the Mexican’s bout with Berlanga. Alalshikh even said the UFC event would “eat” Canelo’s show.

Canelo Continues To Call His Own Shots

“I’m not here to disrespect anyone. I always fight on Mexican Independence [weekend] and I have my fans and my people, and they’ve never let me down,” Canelo said. “I just do my thing. I just want to fight on those days.”

Canelo has been calling his own shots for years now – a result of being the biggest and most marketable star in boxing. He’s paid little notice to criticism over his refusal to fight David Benavidez and has held sanctioning bodies at metaphorical gunpoint by not granting mandatory challengers their title shots.

He is also one of the few fighters on the planet who does not need to be swayed by Saudi money. In the latest Forbes rich list released in May, Canelo earned around $85 million over the previous year, of which $75 million came from his two fights. Alvarez is worth in the region of $275 million.

Unless Alalshikh starts waving around the $150 million Canelo said it would take for him to fight Benavidez, then there is every chance the two may never work together.

Instead, some sort of power struggle appears to have developed between boxing’s biggest matchmaker and its biggest fighter. If that is the case, there would only be one winner, but for a man accustomed to getting what he wants, Alalshikh would consider it a defeat not to have Canelo as part of his global takeover.

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