Turki Al-Shiekh has revealed the fights he wants to see happen in the sport. One of the first in terms of global appeal is Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford at Super Middleweight.
It will be a difficult fight for Turki to put together in 2025 because three-belt unified champion 168-lb Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) has shown no interest in giving Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) the opportunity to fight him. It’s understandable, though.
Turki’s Wishlist
- Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford
- Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury
- Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney 2
- Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois 2
- Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn
Of these fights, a rematch of Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney would be attractive to many fans around the world. It could be the biggest fight in boxing that can be made. British promoter Eddie Hearn insists Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury is the biggest in the sport. It is not. There is no appeal to that fight of old men. This fight is no longer interesting, and was never a great one to begin with due to the lack of solid wins for both British fighters during their careers.
Ryan Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) wants to show fans that his victory over former two-division world champion Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) from last year was not due to him with Ostarine. That’s the picture Devin and his father, Bill Haney, painted to explain their defeat last year.
Brits want to see Joshua vs Fury and Eubank Jr vs Benn, but Americans have zero interest in these fights. Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury are seen as washed-up old heavyweights who have never beaten great opposition.
I’m alone pampered fighters, manufactured –never the real thing. US fans don’t care about them, and they certainly have no interest in a domestic level fight between Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn. Those two are not world class and never have been.
Canelo vs. Crawford?
Canelo has nothing to gain by fighting a smaller, older fighter who fights two weight classes below him. Crawford would need to gain 14 lbs to make his first appearance at 168. This fight is just a vehicle for Crawford to get retirement money. Terence looked old and woefully ill in his debut at 154 against Israel Madrimov last August.
The show showed that Terence is not cut out of the junior middleweight division and would eventually lose if he took the risk of fighting power punchers Bakhram Murtazaliev, Serhii Bohachuk, and Vergil Ortiz Jr. Those guys would take some chips off Crawford, probably. everyone was beating him, and ruining his futile Canelo retirement dream.
The Mexican star would perhaps be more open to giving Nebraska native Bud Crawford a title shot he was quite brave to move to super middle and defeat two or three top fighters. Crawford did not intend to do this for obvious reasons. He just wants the Canelo fight to be given to him, and you can’t respect that.
Turki can make the Canelo-Crawford fight happen this year if he offers Alvarez a ton of money that he hasn’t seen during his long career. The Mexican star’s net worth is estimated at a quarter of a billion. So, for Al-Shiekh to make this fight, he might need to offer Canelo more than $100 million.
You have to assume that Crawford wanted wet his beak on at least half of it if not more. Financially, it doesn’t make sense. Crawford is not a draw, and the fight will not come close to being fair.
“I want to see Eubank-Benn. Also, of course, Tyson and Joshua. (Moïse) Itauma deserves to be the youngest heavyweight champion,” Turki Al-Shiekh told Froch on Fighting. YouTube channel on the fights he wants to see in 2025.
“He still has a year to reach this number (correction: Moses Itauma has until May 19, 2025to beat Mike Tyson’s record of becoming the youngest heavyweight champion), Turki continued.
“In the American market, I want to see Canelo-Crawford. I want to see Garcia-Haney, the rematch.”
