‘Face of boxing’ responds to ‘afraid’ Canelo Alvarez

Turki Alalshikh declared himself “The face of boxing” after responding to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s insistence that it was he, and not the Saudi Arabian powerbroker, who ruled out progressing towards a fight with Terence Crawford.

The chairman of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA) previously said that he had decided to move on to alternative plans.

On Tuesday Alvarez, the world’s highest-profile fighter, then responded by saying: “They wanted to meet with me and see about the fight with Crawford in February. I said, ‘Look, I’m not interested in talking about another fight. After September 14 [when I fight Edgar Berlanga], we can talk. But not right now’.”

Alalshikh responded again by posting on social media: “I heard what Canelo said that he respects me but doesn’t like the way we do business. As for him respecting me, it doesn’t matter to me if he does or not. As for the way I do business, I know why he doesn’t like it, because I only target big fights at fair prices, so of course anyone who likes easy fights won’t like that.

“And I know how he feels after losing to [in 2022, Dmitrii] Bivol, so he’s been looking for easier fights ever since. Also, I’m not the one who’s afraid of fighting [David] Benavidez or Crawford. Therefore, I knew he was wasting our time and making excuses with big amounts of money that can’t be paid. So I’m continuing my way to make big fights that serve the boxing world, and he’s on his way to making easy show-only fights.”

The most recent fight overseen by the GEA – between Israil Madrimov and Crawford, the winner via unanimous decision, on August 3 in Los Angeles – wasn’t necessarily widely well received.

Alalshikh regardless posted an image referring to himself as “The face of boxing” – a curious title of sorts used as a promotional tool in the build-up to the fight in 2023 between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia, and one that has occasionally, albeit only in the context of active fighters, been used since. 

“Most influential figure in boxing and MMA,” it also read. It is on September 14 when Alvarez defends his WBA, WBO and WBC super-middleweight titles against Berlanga at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. On the same night Alalshikh is overseeing a UFC promotion elsewhere in the same city. He had already said, in response to competing with Alvarez-Berlanga: “We will eat him.”