Saudi Arabia has invested countless millions of dollars/pounds into the sport of boxing in the last two years, but that kind of investment doesn’t come without a catch.
The kingdom’s General Entertainment Authority – headed by Chairman Turki Alalshkih – has transformed the sport by making impossible fights possible. No better example than Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford – the superfight now set for Las Vegas on September 13 (live on Netflix).
We’ve had some incredible matchups in the last two years, including a pair of Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk classics and two great fights between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
But there have also been some stinkers including Canelo’s Riyadh win over William Scull and that grim Times Square show headed by Ryan Garcia vs Rolly Romero and Devin Haney vs Jose Ramirez.
Turki warns fighters
Alalshikh – who is using the newly-acquired Ring magazine (the bible of boxing) to front some of his huge Riyadh Season shows – did not reference those two fights in his latest social media message. But the message was very clear to any fighter dreaming of the riches those shows can bring.
He said: “From this point on, I don’t want to see any more Tom and Jerry-type boxing matches where one fighter is running around the ring and the other is chasing him.
“We can no longer support these kind of fights with Riyadh Season and The Ring. We want to support fighters who leave it all in the ring and fight with heart and pride.”
So there you have it, the Saudi investment is not a bottomless pit of dollars with no required end result. Alalshikh wants fights with action…
As we look ahead to a massive summer with Usyk vs Dubois 2 for all the heavyweight marbles, and then Canelo vs Crawford, that has to be good news for all fight fans.
