Saudi Arabia’s Chairman of General Entertainment Authority, Turki Alalshikh, wants to put together three giant fights involving some of boxing’s biggest stars.
The fights that Alalshikh wants to put together will require that the fighters, some of whom are aging and near the ends of their careers, will need to keep winning for it to be feasible.
Alalshikh’s Wishlist: Fights Some Fans Crave
- Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua: A UK bash between British heavyweights that have wanted to fight for a decade but the money or the ambition hasn’t been there until now. For this fight to make sense, both guys need to keep winning before they meet.
- Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford: This is more of a celebrity-esque type of fight, given that Crawford is a welterweight and has never fought at 168. He hasn’t made any effort to compete in the division to prove himself before fighting undisputed champion Canelo. In other words, Crawford would move up three weight classes and leapfrog other top fighters to get the Canelo fight. Again, it’s a glorified celebrity match.
- Beterbiev/Bivol Winner vs David Benavidez: If Benavidez defeats Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15th in a WBC title eliminator at 175, he’s in position to fight the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol light heavyweight undisputed championship, which occurs on June 1st. It would sit right with fans if Benavidez had to prove himself first by fighting a younger talent like David Morrell to earn the right to fight the Beterbiev-Bivol winner rather than the 36-year-old Gvozdyk, who recently came out of a four-year retirement.
It’s interesting that Saudi Chairman Turki Alalshikh is choosing Crawford to fight Canelo Alvarez instead of David Benavidez, whom U.S. fans have been calling for. That said, this move by Alalshikh could be due to Canelo’s price tag of 150-200 million for a fight against Benavidez.
For fans to see Crawford as being worthy of a fight against Canelo, he should ideally be forced to fight these three top 168-pounders to earn the fight:
1. David Benavidez
2. David Morrell
3. Caleb Plant
If Crawford beat those three super middleweights, fans wouldn’t have a problem with him getting a chance to face the King of the 168-lb division, Canelo Alvarez. But for Crawford to go straight to the top ahead of the fighters ahead of him makes it look like a celebrity circus-level fight.