His Excellency Turki Alalshikh is optimistic that he’ll speak with Canelo Alvarez after his fight against Edgar Berlanga on September 14th about him fighting Terence Crawford and David Benavidez.
Those are the two names that Turki is the most interested in making fights with against Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs). However, he says the $200 million that Canelo wants for a fight against Benavidez isn’t a figure anyone is paying.
Turki didn’t mention how much he’s interested in paying Canelo for the Benavidez and Crawford fights. He’s rumored to want $150 million from Canelo. If that’s too high, he may not get Canelo because he’ll want to be paid similar or more money than fighters like Tyson Fury are getting.
He’s seen an old shot at a heavyweight, and he’s getting massive money fighting Oleksandr Usyk, but he will get even more fighting Anthony Joshua. Those are the top heavyweight fights. For Canelo, the biggest fights for him money-wise are Benavidez and Crawford. There are better fighters than either of those guys, but they’re not as popular.
Communication Remains Open
“He sent me a direct message that he wants to connect after the fight,” said Turki Alalshikh to Charlie Parson’s Stomping Grounds site, talking about Canelo Alvarez still being open to speaking about a fight. “It is nothing personal. It is business,” said Turki when asked if he believes he can ‘rekindle the relationship’ with Canelo after his fight with Edgar Berlanga on September 14th.
If Canelo is asking for similar money as the British heavyweights like Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury are getting for their recent fights, he’s not going to be happy receiving less than that for the biggest fights available to him.
“I’d like to see it again, Crawford, and I’d like to see it against Benavidez,” said Turki on two fighters he’d like to see Canelo fight. “Of course, no one pays this kind of money,” said Turki when asked if Canelo needs to be realistic by not asking for $200 million for a fight against Benavidez.
Canelo has no incentive to fight a light heavyweight like Benavidez when he’d be giving away a lot of size against not even an A-level fighter at 175. There are better fighters at Light Heavyweight than Benavidez, and there’s no point in Canelo fighting him unless he gets the money he’s asking for.
If he wanted to get a light heavyweight, he’d go straight to the top and face the winner of the Artur Beterbeiv vs. Dmitry Bivol. Those guys are much better than Benavidez at many levels.
Nothing is Impossible
“Nothing is impossible. Let’s see in the future what happens, but if someone can do it, it’s Riyadh Season,” said Turki on his belief that he’ll be able to work with Canelo.
Working with Canelo is possible for Turki, but it’s questionable whether he’ll have luck putting together fights against Crawford or Benavidez. Canelo is already wealthy and makes good money fighting less popular fighters.
Canelo isn’t worried about fighting an aging, undersized fighter like Crawford. Still, fighting a defensive guy coming off a poor performance against Israil Madrimov would not do anything for him. It’s a fight that helps Crawford more than Canelo, so the Mexican star would want to be paid well to make it worthwhile.
Read the full article here
