Eddie Hearn says he’s uncertain if discussions will happen between Canelo Alvarez and His Excellency Turki Alalshikh for a combat with Terence Crawford in 2025.
Hearn says Turki was upset lately that the Mexican famous person Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) didn’t a minimum of wish to communicate to him about placing collectively a combat with Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), who His Excellency is excessive on.
Understandably, Canelo didn’t wish to begin negotiations for one more combat whereas he nonetheless had a title protection towards the younger go-getter Edgar Berlanga on September 14th on the T-Cellular in Las Vegas. It might be a distraction to look previous him.
Turki’s Frustration: The Pursuit of Marquee Fights
“His Excellency requested Canelo to satisfy him, and he mentioned, ‘No.’ I don’t assume there’s anybody in boxing who wouldn’t meet His Excellency aside from Canelo Alvarez,” mentioned promoter Eddie Hearn to the Ok.O. Artist Sports activities web site, speaking about Canelo Alvarez letting Turki Alalshikh know that he wished to attend to talk with him a few potential Terence Crawford combat till after his September 14th title protection towards Edgar Berlanga.
There could be extra curiosity from Canelo if the combat being provided to him by His Excellency weren’t a celebrity-esque one towards Crawford, who regarded horrible at 154 in his debut and could be meals for any prime 10-level contender at 168. Canelo-Crawford is YoutTube-level, and you’ll perceive why Canelo has little curiosity on this match; it’s going to tarnish his legacy.
Canelo is extremely wealthy, so it’s not the identical factor for him to place off Turki as it could be for a traditional fighter who wasn’t sitting on prime of a $250M fortune and will herald huge cash towards anybody they select.
“His Excellency has in his head to make these unimaginable marquee combat, which is wonderful for boxing, however when he can’t make them, he’s annoyed,” mentioned Hearn about Turki’s need to match Canelo towards Crawford. “He has the power to make them as a result of he has the battle chest to do it. I believe he was annoyed that he couldn’t a minimum of have a dialog to attempt to make Crawford-Canelo, however who is aware of if that dialog will come round.”
Turki’s current fights involving former UFC heavyweight Francis Ngannou combating Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury had been unusual. Whereas they made cash, they weren’t sporting fights; each ought to have been exhibitions. They had been harking back to an previous Floyd Mayweather Jr. combating former UFC champion Conor McGregor.
Canelo’s Value: The Backside Line
They shouldn’t have been sanctioned as boxing matches. Canelo combating Crawford is a horrible combat with out Terence going as much as 168 and proving himself able to treading water within the tremendous middleweight division by beating a top-tier ranked contender.
“I additionally perceive Saul’s place. ‘I’ve acquired a combat arising. I’m targeted on that, after which we’ll speak later.’ Saul goes to do no matter [he wants] to do. I just like the technique that Saul has. ‘You pay me the cash, and I’ll have the combat.’ It’s easy. No lies. That’s the reality. He’ll combat anybody, however he additionally has a value in thoughts. That’s most likely not the determine [$200 million for the David Benavidez fight], however throw it on the market and see how shut you may get.
“He likes to compete, he likes to generate profits, and he likes to combat,” mentioned Hearn.