Turki Alalshikh Aims To Deliver Heavyweight Boxing Spectacles Until 2030
Turki Alalshikh wants to give boxing fans the biggest fights in the heavyweight division until 2030.
Heavyweight boxing has had a resurgence of late following the rise of Saudi Arabia in the sport. They kicked things off last year with Tyson Fury vs Francis Ngannou, setting the scene for ‘The Day of Reckoning’ boxing card. They have also scheduled Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk for the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship, Francis Ngannou vs Anthony Joshua and plans for Dmitry Bivol vs Artur Beterbiev in an undisputed fight at 175 pounds.
The aim is to secure the biggest fights in the other weight classes. Turki Alalshikh outlined several obstacles preventing that, including promoters, the cost of fights and the four sanctioning bodies. Having seen boxing decline from what it used to be as a mainstay sport, Turki Alalshikh was desperate to put it back at the top.
Turki Alalshikh On Boxing
“In the seventies and the beginning of the eighties, the sport that was number one in the world was boxing. “Now I am very sad. The last [search] result I have before we go inside deeper boxing was the fourteenth [rated sport worldwide].
“There are many reasons. Some of them being that there are not a lot of fighters who are charismatic and have character now. There are a lot of problems with the promoter. They don’t want to do the strongest fight because it costs a lot. Some fighters don’t want to do the strongest fight, and there are four companies and four belts,” Turki Alalshikh said
Despite the grand vision, boxing has mainly dominated in the UK and the US. Saudi offers fighters a new market to tap into. But it may come at the expense of the hardcore boxing fan who can no longer attend in person by going to fights in Saudi.
Eddie Hearn Reacts
There is also the danger that fighters avoid facing each other in an attempt to secure a big payday in Saudi. This may also make fighters set unrealistic purse demands that do not reflect their true value. But if fans get the best possible fights, it is a sacrifice worth having. And yet, Eddie Hearn is still intent on making big fights in the UK.
“We have to make sure that major fights happen in England, Ireland, wherever, closer to home. Whether that’s [Katie] Taylor-[Chantelle] Cameron III, whether that’s [Leigh] Wood-[Josh] Warrington, whether that’s [Chris] Eubank-[Conor]Benn, we have to make sure [fights take place in the UK].
“The opportunities to stage major fights in Saudi are there, the cards that we are working on at the moment are incredible. But we do understand that this is our main market. The UK is our main market. We have to make sure that we keep the profile of the sport raised in our country and we do that by great fight nights but also mega great fight nights as well. That’s important,” Hearn stated
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