Turki Alalshikh promised cheaper PPV shows for fight fans this week – and already he is taking things to a whole new level.
Alalshikh has been changing the fight game over the past year as Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority – making impossible fights possible.
Notable highlights so far include that ‘Day Of Reckoning’ card in Saudi last December featuring Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder, Joshua’s beatdown of Francis Ngannou in March and of course that epic Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk heavyweight unification in May.
DAZN: Sign up to watch Joshua vs Dubois LIVE!
Now Alalshikh is preparing to put on Riyadh Season’s first London show when Joshua faces Daniel Dubois for the IBF heavyweight title in front of 96,000 fans at Wembley on September 21. Which leads us perfectly on to his next big battle – over PPV pricing.
He made the bold statement that he wanted all PPV shows to be under £20 in the UK – and with Joshua vs Dubois just under that price point (on DAZN PPV, Sky Sports Box Office and TNT Sports Box Office), box ticked. But now, he appears to be taking things to that whole new level.
Latinos Night FREE on TV worldwide
On Wednesday he announced that he has struck an agreement with boxing great and now Golden Boy Promotions head Oscar De La Hoya for an incredible boost for fight fans.
Alalshikh says the pair will team up to put on a ‘Latinos Night’ show in Saudi in November, which will be ABSOLUTELY FREE on TV networks and platforms globally.
Writing on Twitter, he said: “I just hanged up the phone with my friend Oscar De La Hoya….We had a long talk therefore i decided the card of Latinos Night in Riyadh Season with our partner Golden Boy will be free on TV networks and platforms all around the world…any TV network or platform and cable TV interested in this event kindly connect with us in Riyadh Season and Sela specially in Mexico and south America … we care about boxing fans for that this card free.”
Who will fight on Latinos Night?
So the next big question, is who will be on that November show in Saudi Arabia?
Salvador Rodriguez of ESPN has ideas about that – his sources suggest the show topper would be a cruiserweight world title showdown pitting Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez against Britain’s Chris Billam-Smith. Another barnburner would be William Zepeda facing off with Aussie star George Kambosos.
Stellar end to 2024 for Riyadh Season
That ‘Latinos Night’ – amazing though it is – may well end up being just the tip of an incredible iceberg for boxing. Riyadh Season already has some sensational fights on deck. Notably the light-heavyweight blockbuster between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol in October.
Then, on December 21, what an end to the year when we get that Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury rematch for the WBC, WBA, WBO, Ring magazine and lineal heavyweight titles.
