Turki Alalshikh no longer interested in Canelo vs. Crawford

TURKI Alalshikh has given his updated verdict on a potential Canelo vs. Crawford clash and it now seems unlikely to happen. Communicating by X, just days after Crawford defeated Israil Madimov in Los Angeles, Turki revealed that a planning meeting had taken place and the Canelo bout has been officially disregarded.

Just wrapped up an important meeting now with my team, planning for the upcoming fights that we will make for 2024-2025. I decided to disregard the Canelo fight, as I don’t want it anymore.
Instead, I will be focusing for the US market with bigger fights, especially for the…

— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) August 6, 2024

Clearly, the LA experience has impressed His Excellency, who is making a push within the Stateside market. This move could see Terence Crawford take on Vergil Ortiz (who must first get by Serhii Bohachuk) or Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis instead – but not Tim Tszyu. The Aussie was name-checked but with a subtle rap on the knuckles for his team’s lack of communication.

Communication was not an issue for Canelo, who responded to Turki’s brush-off with claims of respect. Industry mumbles suggested that Canelo’s current desire for high pay, lower risk fights, rather than tackling the likes of David Benavidez, has led to the disconnection.

Turki Alalshiklh returned to X to respond: “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 Bivol, so he’s been looking for easier fights ever since. Also, I’m not the one who’s afraid of fighting 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.”

While that sizzling “beef” rumbles on, back to matters of the ring and the big Wembley heavyweight battle between Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois is also a focus point for Alalshikh. Seeing Bivol and Beterbiev’s names mentioned, plus Fury and Usyk, will certainly give fans a boxing buzz as the year moves from the third to the fourth quarter before sliding into 2025.

The head player of Riyadh Season also said “stay tuned” at the end of the message, hinting that even bigger cards are on the way. Devin Haney and Shakur Stevenson’s references, earlier in the tweet, just add to the anticipation as the sport’s premier divisions assemble and organise themselves around the cash flow.