Ahead of Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois, Saudi kingpin Turki Al-Alshikh has revamped the sport of boxing by making the impossible match-up’s a reality and successfully delivering some of the most salivating contests available despite only being involved in the sport for around a year. However, the newfound catalyst of the sport is not done yet and has today revealed major plans for the future, starting with the Joshua vs. Dubois card.
The money that Al-Alshikh can offer fighters has seen an increase in willingness to fight the best, with additional financial incentive proving to be the winning formula for a fruitful sport. Yet, such a boom in major events has seen a notable rise in the number of pay-per-view events being staged, costing the average consumer a pretty penny for following the world of boxing closely.
Yet, Al-Alshikh has now promised that the sizeable purses he can offer will not come at the expense of boxing fans, instead telling talkSPORT of his intentions to massively decrease the cost of pay-per-view cards, particularly in the United States- where PPV shows are regularly priced around the $79.99 mark.
“I dream of a PPV with a good price to make the fans happy and subscribe and get them to watch it legally.”
“Usually when I see a high PPV, a lot of people go and watch the fight illegally and this is not healthy for boxing and the platform. What I will try to push is to have our Riyadh Season shows at less than £20 in England and less than $20 around the world.
“I would prefer to have one million fans subscribe and buy the PPV for £20 than less than 500,000 [for £40]. The people go around it illegally because the price is high. In the future, this will not build boxing. If I give the fans good fights at a good price then I will increase the fanbase.”
Although this news will be music to the ears of pugilists across the pond, those in the United Kingdom will be delighted to hear that His Excellency has confirmed that ‘he will try’ to convince Noel Gallagher to appear alongside his brother, Liam, at the Joshua-Dubois card.
This comes just days after it was announced that popular UK rock band ‘Oasis’ would be reuniting for a run of gigs next year, and with Liam Gallagher set to perform at the Joshua-Dubois event, the possibility of an appearance from Noel has got the country talking.
Finally, aside from the Joshua-Dubois card, Al-Alshikh officially confirmed his idea of forming a boxing league and reducing the number of world titles, confirming reports that emerged this summer.
“We have a plan for the future to have something like a league,”
“We don’t discuss about the belts until now. But in my opinion around 68 world champions is a crazy number.”
Before talks of a boxing league can truly get underway, it is likely that Al-Alshikh will attempt to reduce the number of champions by staging as many unification bouts as possible.
First, Anthony Joshua will take on Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium on September 21st, where fans will hope they can see ‘Oasis’ perform together for the first time since 2009.
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