Turki Alalshikh is widely regarded as boxing's savior for the work he has done in the sport over the years and now he wants to take it one step further.
In 2023, Turki Alalshikh started pouring a lot of money into the sport of boxing and started putting on fights that fans had been clamoring for for years.
Historically, a major problem in boxing has been getting top names to agree to fight each other, with fights usually blocked by different promoters.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Turki Alalshikh sends a message to boxers in which he wants to adopt the UFC model
While boxing suffered from these ongoing problems, MMA grew as a sport and the UFC, as a promotional powerhouse, took advantage of the lull in boxing.
One way the UFC has always been able to differentiate itself from boxing is by consistently putting on fights between the best fighters in the world, giving fans the matchups they demand.
And that's something the chairman of Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority hopes to do with boxing, in hopes of adopting more of the UFC's business models.
Turki Alalshikh has started working closely with the UFC and last June the promotion hosted their first-ever event in Saudi Arabia. Then in September, Riyadh Season sponsored the historic UFC 306 event from the Sphere in Las Vegas.
The promotion then announced in late 2024 that they will return to Saudi Arabia for another Fight Night this coming February.
UFC boss Dana White is reportedly in advanced talks with Turki to start a new boxing league in Saudi Arabia, which will run along the lines of the UFC model.
In doing so, Alalshikh has sent a challenging message to the boxing world that fighters must adopt a new mentality towards the sport.
“It must be normal now to lose some fights in boxing. All fighters want something similar to Floyd Mayweather's career – zero losses. This can happen once every 50/60/70 years. We now need the UFC model, where the champions lose and win.
“Mohammed Ali lost five times and he is still the legend,” Alalshikh said in an interview with boxing legend Carl Froch.
Turki Alalshikh names some of the big fights he wants to make in 2025
Historically, boxers have done everything they can to maintain an undefeated record, the theory being that it makes them more marketable in the long run and thus able to make more money.
Still, Turki wants the sport to move away from that model and for fighters to feel comfortable taking losses when they get into big fights.
With that, boxing's most influential figure has named a number of fights he hopes to make on the way to a big 2025 for the sport.
“Yes, I want to see (Chris) Eubank (Jr) versus (Conor) Benn, of course I also want to see Tyson (Fury) and (Anthony) Joshua, (Moses) Itauma, I think he deserves to have a chance To become the youngest world heavyweight champion, he still has one year left.
“In the US market, I want to see Canelo (Alvarez) versus (Terence) Crawford, I want to see (Ryan) Garcia versus (Devin) Haney the rematch,” he continued.
Related topics
Comments