Tim Bradley is critical of the undercard that Turki Alalshikh has assembled to support ‘The Fight of the Century’ between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford on September 13 on Netflix.
The ‘Garbage’ Undercard
Bradley says the undercard event is “Garbage” and scolds Turki for not stacking the card like he’s done in the past with his Riyadh Season events. Tim states, “Who are these dudes?” The remark has been echoed by fans on social media, who are unfamiliar with many of the fighters.
Turki recently gave his rationale for choosing the fighters for the undercard. He said, “We have the biggest fight, we don’t need a big fight on the undercard.” In other words, he believes the Canelo-Crawford fight is big enough that the undercard was unimportant in terms of quality. Some fans on X believe that Turki spent so much money on the purses for Crawford and Canelo. So, he chose to scrimp on the rest of the September 13th event.
Main Undercard
- Callum Walsh vs. Fernando Vargas Jr.
- Christian Mbilli vs. Lester Martinez
- Mohammed Alakel vs. John Ornelas
Preliminary Card
- Serhii Bohachuk vs. Brandon Adams
- Ivan Dychko vs. Jermaine Franklin
- Reito Tsutsumi vs. Javier Martinez
- Sultan Almohammed vs. Martin Caraballo
- Steven Nelson vs. Raiko Santana
- Marco Verde vs. Marcos Osorio Betancourt
A Departure from the Norm
“This is the first time I’ve seen the undercard of this big a** fight that is not being promoted,” said commentator Tim Bradley on his channel, criticizing the undercard that has been packaged with the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight on September 13. “What’s going on? You already spent $300 million or $500 million. What’s up with the undercard, Turki?”
Empty Card, No Interest
It’s understandable why Bradley has overlooked the bare-bones undercard that has been assembled for the Canelo-Crawford event next week, as fans are ignoring it because it lacks high-caliber fights.
Arguably, the best of the bunch is the Christian Mbilli vs. Lester Martinez fight. Even that one has failed to resonate, as Martinez hasn’t fought any notable opposition during his career. The same applies to Mbilli. It would have been better to use Osleys Iglesias or Diego Pacheco as the opponent for Mbilli, as those two would have an excellent chance of beating him. There would have been more interest.
“This ain’t like you, Turki. You put on main event cards. Every fight could be their own main event, and you’re going to give us this garbage right here?” said Bradley about the Canelo-Crawford undercard. “Come on, man. Hey, there ain’t no such thing as halfway crooks. Don’t be halfway doing it.”
It’s too late now. Turki already has the undercard set for Canelo-Crawford, and he’s not talking about adding any additional fights to beef it up for fans. That’s a big negative because there are many fans who are uninterested in watching Canelo fight an aging 37-year-old in a gimmick fight.
It’s not a sporting one because Crawford has never fought at 168 and has been sitting, waiting for his fight.
I believe that with the way Crawford looked in his last fight, he’d lose to five of the top 10 contenders in the super middleweight division.
Some fans see it as a money grab and a retirement payday for Crawford’s benefit, given his success in the lower weight classes. It’s akin to the equivalent of a gold watch given to an employee retiring from a company in the past.
“If you’re going to do it, Turki. Do it like you’ve been doing it, Turki. Don’t be halfway doing it, man. I don’t know nobody on the damn undercard. Who the hell these dudes is? I’m like, ‘Who?’ I can’t even say some of these damn names on the undercard,” said Bradley.
What’s troubling is that Turki’s July 12 and February 22, 2025, events had better undercards than the Canelo vs. Crawford card. The same goes for all four of Turki’s events in 2024.
Turki’s loaded events in 2024:
- December 21: Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk 2 rematch
- October 12: Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 1
- September 18: Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois
- August 3: Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov
“The world will be watching Riyadh Season’s Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford fight of the century on Netflix. And for that, I want to load the undercard with young, hungry fighters who deserve the chance to perform under the bright lights,” said Turki Alalshikh to Ring Magazine, giving his rationale for picking the little-known fighters on the undercard.
The fighters that Turki has selected for the Canelo-Crawford undercard are definitely “young” and “hungry.” However, the fights that he has added to the card have failed to resonate with fans, and they’re overlooked entirely. There is no buzz about the co-feature fight between Callum Walsh and Fernando Vargas Jr. It’s the same with the rest of the undercard.
Fans on social media aren’t talking about the fights.
In my view, the undercard has acted as dead weight, hurting the event more than helping it. Turki might as well have just eliminated the undercard and gone with the main event as the only fight on the September 13th card.
Main Event is All That Matters
“All the undercard about talent, because we have the biggest fight, we don’t need a big fight in the undercard,” said Turki to Sports Illustrated, explaining why the card lacks compelling fights.
There it is, straight from Turki. He believes the Canelo-Crawford fight is ‘The Fight of the Century,” and that the event doesn’t need big names on the undercard to create interest among fans to subscribe to Netflix to watch it.