Turki Alalshikh has almost singlehandedly changed the entire boxing landscape in the last few years and now the chair of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority has named three more huge fights that he hopes to be making soon.
Saudi Arabia has very much become the centre of the boxing world in the last few years, all under the guidance of keen boxing fan Alalshikh. Some of the largest events the sport has seen have all taken place out in Riyadh, often as part of the annual cultural celebration that is Riyadh Season.
This year we have already seen Anthony Joshua knock out Francis Ngannou in spectacular fashion, not long after he took Tyson Fury all the way across 10 rounds and almost scored a huge upset back in October.
In May, Saudi Arabia will host the first undisputed fight in some 25 years when Fury takes on Oleksandr Usyk for all four of the major world titles in a hugely anticipated bout, and just weeks after that is another undisputed title fight when Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol face off on June 1.
The undercard of that fight is huge in itself as Matchroom and Queensberry go head to head with their 5 v 5 event. Now, more big fights have been teased as Turki AlAlshikh has taken to Reddit, and one that has emerged as potentially taking place as part of Riyadh Season in August is Terence Crawford moving up to 154 pounds to take on Israil Madrimov for his WBA junior middleweight, although that is set to be in Los Angeles.
He has suggested that he would like to make Fury versus Joshua, an epic all-British contest that has been brewing for some time, along with Crawford against Canelo Alvarez, and Beterbiev vs. David Benavidez.
The Fury vs. Joshua fight is dependent on the outcome of Fury’s showdown with Usyk, which has a rematch clause so could keep him busy for the rest of the year unless victory is secured so conclusively that there is no clamour to see the same men do battle for a second time.
Right now, Joshua is in great forming and coming off the back of a trip of knockouts that have got him back to his explosive best, while Fury has a lot to prove given his below-par performance last time out against Ngannou.
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