Saudi powerhouse Turki Al-Alshikh has made waves within heavyweight boxing over the past year, and now seems keen to bring fights in two other major divisions to his kingdom.
In the 1980s fans had the ‘four kings’ of the middleweight division, where each of Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran fought one another.
Now in the 2020s, there is a new thriving division, with lightweight playing host to some of the biggest names in the sport.
Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia seemed to kickstart a new era when they met last April, with ‘Tank’ Davis winning and simultaneously setting a precedent for what is expected from the likes of himself, Garcia, Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson.
After staging high-profile heavyweight bouts in Saudi Arabia, Al-Alshikh is now keen to bring more divisions to the Middle East, as he told DAZN of his aim to host some major events featuring WBC 140lb champion Haney and WBA lightweight champion Davis.
“I want it [Haney vs Stevenson] and I send message now from you to Al Haymon, let’s do this job brother. Haney, I want to see Haney in my country and I’ll send a message now from you to him to try to do it in 2024, and Davis, of course we want him in my country.”
For now it seems that Haney’s next contest will be a first defence of his WBC super-lightweight title, where he will face mandatory challenger Sandor Martin.
Meanwhile, Stevenson and Davis each recently became world champions at lightweight and will likely seek to unify the belts against their fellow title-holders and possibly one another.
However, should Haney be successful in retaining his belt, it will open up the door for a mega-fight against any of his high-profile threats and a major offer from Al-Alshikh could prompt a move up to 140lbs from either Davis or Stevenson during 2024.