Turki Alalshikh to ‘Disregard’ Terence Crawford vs Canelo Alvarez

Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) made a sensational comeback after a yearlong hiatus by winning the WBA and vacant WBO light middleweight titles in a showdown against Israil Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs). Following his victory, the boxing community has been curious to know about his potential fight against the pound-for-pound king, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs), a bout which Crawford has long called for. However, it now looks like Crawford will have to wait longer for the Alvarez fight, as Turki Alalshikh recently announced his plans to disregard the matchup in favor of “bigger fights.”

In a tweet, Alalshikh revealed his plans for boxing events for 2024-2025.

“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 legend Crawford,” he said.

Alalshikh further mentioned that he wishes to extend support in making fights for boxers like Jaron Ennis (32-0-1, 29 KOs) and Devin Haney (31-0-1, 15 KOs), among others. Moreover, he added that his primary focus currently is the Riyadh Season event, the Wembley edition in September, where Anthony Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) will lock horns with Daniel Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs). Based on those results, he also wishes to build the card for the Tyson Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) vs Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) rematch.

“I Don’t Really Care”

It certainly looks like Alalshikh’s words have struck Alvarez’s nerves. However, maintaining his composure, he recently sent a rather stern message to the Saudi boxing royalty, stating that it was not a fight he was looking forward to.

“I don’t really care about it. Look, I’m focused 100% on my fight, and I don’t really care about it. They texted me yesterday, is it possible to talk about that Crawford fight for February or meet yesterday here in Los Angeles with him. And I said, look, I’m 100% focused on this fight, and I can’t talk about other fights. Maybe that’s why he thought about that today,” Alvarez said.

Notably, Alvarez is set to defend his WBA, WBC, and WBO super middleweight titles against Edgar Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs) in September. Alvarez then took it up a notch by stating that Crawford has to fight Teofimo Lopez before facing him.

“At the end of the day, like I say before, I’m not asking for that fight. They want to make that fight because it’s a payday obviously, but I don’t want that fight. I think Teofimo [Lopez] deserve more than me,” he said.

Joshua Ben Joseph

Joshua Ben Joseph is a Boxing writer renowned for his unparalleled coverage of live events and insightful interviews with prominent athletes in the world of combat sports. With a career spanning over several years, he has authored more than 800 articles. As an experienced editorial cartoonist and investigative journalist, Joshua has a keen eye for detail and a passion for delivering quality content. Aside from his writing, Joshua is an avid powerlifter and solo traveler, embodying the same spirit of determination and exploration that he brings to his work. With a deep love for the sport of boxing that dates back to childhood, he is committed to delivering the highest quality content and helping to build a more transparent and credible industry.

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