Newest Turki Alalshikh interview analysis (& Bonus Predictions)

The most powerful and influential man in the world of boxing gave another interview last week, this time with ThaBoxingVoice. Did you see it? It's not even hit 10,000 views on YouTube yet so probably not. I've typed up some of the news below (Turki Alalshikh quotes in italics) and have thrown in some notes and takes on the side too. Plus a couple of predictions for title fights that I missed on the July calendar at the end.

On Riyadh Season and Ring Magazine cards now being included in DAZN subscriptions

"This is not only like this. First of all, maybe you can have it cheaper than the $30. It will be maybe two options, one with commercials and one without commercials. Without commercials, it will be $30. Maybe something like this. 4K, having behind the scenes, having extra things. And with commercials something with $9 or $10 something like this. And it is not only Riyadh Season and The Ring cards. I will try to convince them anything inside DAZN will be with the subscriber. I want to ask you questions. What is the use to subscribing if I am a normal man in my home, what is the use of subscribing then you make me pay 10 to 15 PPVs with $90 and $80? What is the use of my subscriptions? Right? Okay. If you pay something like a McDonalds meal or coffee in Starbucks and getting all the fights you want for free, is this better or not?"

Stop me if you've heard this one before, it's the Death of PPV!

After a year which saw three DAZN PPVs in the space of 8 days (Eubank-Benn, Garcia-Romero & Canelo Scull) , this is an overdue change. Yet with this familiar change the worries are twofold. One is that this will be like when Amazon and e-commerce were the death of physical stores, because they were able to sustain losses that their competitors weren't able to take until big business was the only business left. Saudi-backed boxing can afford to make boxing """free""" in a way that ordinary promoters can't.

The second worry is that this is a precursor to reducing fighter pay to be more in line with the UFC (as the new TKO/Zuffa endeavour hopes to do with carving exemptions into the Ali Act). You may remember Ngannou revealing that he made more money in his fight with Fury than he made in his entire UFC career. As an old man, I remember years ago when Dana White nonsensically claimed that the UFC 'has made more millionaires than boxing' (a sentiment echoed by Jon Jones). In the console wars era of 2010s internet discussion this caused quite a stir at the time, but the long and slow-moving arm of the law eventually said that the UFC would have to pay up. You can't fool all of the people all of the time.

Pay-per-view is annoying. But I'm not sure scrapping it entirely is the answer. Especially when scrapping it is financially underpinned by 'people will pay a monthly PPV fee regardless' (the old DAZN model) and there's a built-in expectation that PPVs will inevitably return in the future (as they did with PBC and DAZN). If you read between the lines, the door is left open for PPVs so long as they're not billed as Riyadh Season or Ring Magazine cards. If boxing was completely free besides paying maybe 2-5 times per year for the big fight cards, then the sport would be in a healthier place. The old closed-circuit television was essentially pay-per-view and it had successses in its day until technology evolved to enable a new model in the cable television age. Boxing, a sport run for too long by elderly men, never really adapted to finding a new model for the internet age like other sports did. And I'm not convinced that DAZN is the best vehicle for this.

The haphazard handling of big fights is just not it. Back in the day, you would buy a ticket to watch a Muhammad Ali fight live on the big screen at your local picture house or listen to it on the radio, but later (sometimes days, sometimes months) there would be well-publicised television debut for those who didn't pay the price of admission the first time. I'd like to see that model return. Television is not completely dead. Millions of people still watch it every single day and many of them for no reason other than to see what there is to watch. Let them watch boxing, give it away to national public broadcasters if you're already giving it away on YouTube days after a PPV. Too many of the people watching the sport today are already boxing fans, there has to be a concerted push to convert new fans if the sport is to thrive beyond DAZN.

DAZN numbers and PPV sales

"DAZN has a base of 20 millions [paying] subscribers, right? We have between 1 to 1.5 million [PPV] subscribers in the big fights, similar to Tyson Fury vs. Usyk like these fights, but the average of the normal card is around 300,000 to 400,000. How do I get only 300,000 or 400,000 [PPV subscribers] and the fan base is 20 million in DAZN? That means a lot of people don't like to pay extra to get the cards, right? And this is bad for boxing, right? I heard from one of the guests you had before that, ‘Oh, maybe he's losing his money.’ First of all, it's not my money. It is business, man. And second, we are doing this for a big vision and to put our country on the map of MMA and a lot of things. We are not doing something for free. That means, okay, we will give the card for free but that's doesn't mean we don't charge DAZN. This is between us and DAZN. You understand me? If we build the base of DAZN, the idea is to try this model for one year in DAZN and see the effect. If the people like it, we will complete it. Complete and do it more and more. And when people are saying about PBC and Al Haymon, first of all, we do a lot of business with them now. Have an update, all their fighters are with us and on our cards. We don't have any enemy in boxing."

Not having enemies is always a nice goal. But in business, not having competitors is the dream. Top Rank's ESPN deal is up, as is Boxxer's Sky Sports deal, they'll presumably end up in the foster home of boxing. Will this be good for the fans? Generally, you don't win a monopoly only to then become pro-consumer out of the kindness of your heart.

As for DAZN, the number of "20 million premium paying subscribers" comes from an October 2023 company report which also claims "60 million + users globally" and "100 million users watch DAZN on YouTube across a portfolio of channels". By DAZN's December 2023 Annual Report, CEO Shay Segev claimed that "With over 60 million registered premium users and 300 million monthly customers viewing DAZN content already, we are confident in our ability to succeed." Did you notice the sleight of hand? "60 million + users" became "60 million registered premium users" (presumably 'registered premium users' are not to be confused with 'premium paying subscribers'). The September 2024 half-year review quoted Shay Segev as saying "We are rapidly approaching 20 million paying subscribers each year, our content is viewed regularly by 300 million users and our expanding range of global and market specific content drives our ambition to reach one billion users globally." Approaching 20 million? I guess they were rounding up last time. The earliest number from the 2022 Annual Review claims "15 MILLION PREMIUM PAYING SUBSCRIBERS" and the most recent 2024 company update (downgraded from a full annual review) skips over premium users entirely and only touts "an audience of over 300 million regular viewers". You don't normally forget to mention the newest data if the numbers went up.

The large disconnect between the 20 million paying subscribers and PPV boxing sales is easily explained by people not wanting to pay twice (I wonder if there's a breakdown of what percentage of PPV sales come from existing DAZN subscribers). Though there is also the reality that DAZN, the self-proclaimed home of boxing, is not exclusively a boxing platform. The more interesting question would be how much is DAZN promoting its own boxing events to viewers who are more interested in football or rally racing? Given that I can't recall seeing a golf or rallying ad drop on any DAZN boxing show, I wouldn't bet that it's happening the other way around.

Tank and his Ferrari request

"No, I want to tell you something. And I will say it again. He will have his contracts and two gloves. If he wants to buy from his contracts the Ferrari, do it by himself. We are paying sometimes, for some people, more than the four Ferraris for fights."

Remember this drama? Gervonta Davis's point is that the Devin Haney fight did not happen because he felt that "I gotta get the knockout, if not, y'all gon give it to him." Now, to be fair to Tank, I think he has a point that Turki Alalshikh has said he is not a promoter and that he uses that to be openly biased about his preferences. That said, the only big fight to have ended in a robbery in Saudi Arabia was Fury-Ngannou. You could argue the Bivol-Beterbiev fights could've gone the other way each time, and Sheeraz should've lost to Adames if that title bout counts as a big fight. Overall though, the judging seems on the up and up. I suppose the worry for Tank is that there are no guarantees that will always be the case. And Tank's advice for that Turki that he should "at least put people around you that know the sport" is sage too.

Matchmaking and The Ring III card

"The only conditions, the only things Riyadh Season will ask you is if you have balls to a have big fight. Any fighters. I will not give you tune-up fight. This is what has damaged boxing. I will try to do one number one against number two, if you can not have number one against number two I will have number one against number three and like this. I want to tell you something, the last card, The Ring [III] in Newark, the first time in the stadium, and the people all around the place like it. It was a card, four fights, 50/50, you cannot know the result until the end, right? Except Sheeraz and Berlanga. And this is what the people like. We are, on that night, trending number one in the world. And at the same time there are big cards in UFC and big cards in WWE and we are number one on that night and the people like it. Okay, this is what we want to do."

It's interesting that Mr. Alalshikh gives Sheeraz-Berlanga as the one-sided fight with an obvious outcome. I thought that after losing to Adames he wouldn't fare much better against Berlanga, and the obvious outcome was surely Shakur Stevenson wins by decision?

New Talent Showcase

"With my friends, and my people in The Ring, we will start a show. We'll name it 'The Underdog'. In Vegas, it will be one each month. The card is all about the talent and discovering fighters and when they succeed they can go to the league with TKO or go in Riyadh Season cards. We want all the fighters around the world to have a chance to be a star. And when we do the sparring in New York, we got 2,000 people. We got around 200 fighters. Some of them came from Japan and Scotland. And we announced it only one week before. I announced they will be on the undercard of Canelo-Crawford. And imagine, two of them now on the undercard for Canelo-Crawford, from the street to the biggest fight in one step, on the undercard of the biggest card in the last 10 years. This is this is what we are doing for boxing. I am not promoter, my brother. I don't calculate it '1 + 1 =2', we calculate it different. [...] You will see the development in September and in the first card of The Ring Underdog. You will see it."

'The Underdog' sounds a lot like that old TV show 'The Contender'. How many of you remember the fighters on that show? Ordinarily, fighters are developed by putting them in good fights with good promotion. Surely there's more mileage from a spiritual successor to HBO 24/7 or Showtime All-Access? Or a magazine show to keep up with all the latest results, news, interviews, analysis, memes, and upcoming events? (Sort of like this website, except audiovisual and with a salary.)

Take for example the aforementioned success of the fighter going from the street to the undercard of what should be a successful Netflix broadcast in September. In a separate Ring Magazine puff piece, it was said that the undercard will be "two or three days" and will have "more than 20 fights." Somehow I don't think Netflix will be broadcasting three nights of boxing. And, unless I've gotten really bad at the internet, I don't think any of the undercard has been revealed yet either. Just speculation about "If His Excellency Turki Alalshikh were to have his way" then the eyes of the world will be on Jared Anderson vs. Jarrell Miller and Christian Mbilli vs. Lester Martinez. If there's no pre-fight publicity because the fight sells itself (and comes at no additional cost to Netflix subscribers), Max Kellerman and Jon Anik will have to build up interest in these guys and their opponents in the short few hours they'll have on fight night. And that's presuming there's still room for interest if they spend the Thursday and Friday prior having to build-up 34 other fighters. The fight is in just over 7 weeks and there are still so many unknowns. Back in May I wrote that the Times Square card was "unusually scant on logistical details with only 7 weeks to go until fight night. If they pull that off, some trust would be built in their ability to deliver. And if it fails to meet expectations then that's just par for the course in boxing."

Canelo-Benavidez

"I want to tell you something. First of all, we are now planning for both of them a strong plan. There is, on the table; Sheeraz, there is [Christian] Mbilli the French, there are a lot of fighters, ok. And for Benvidez, there is Artur [Beterbiev], there is [Dmitry] Bivol, there is maybe [Jai] Opetaia. What I can say to you, I will try hard to extend the contract with Canelo for 3-4 fights more. And I will try hard to have a chance to convince him sometime '27 to fight Benvidez and now in his plan in in his plan in '26 there are 3-4 options and we agreed to it. Maybe in the future I can convince him. I want to see this fight. Similar to you, I want to see it. Maybe one day with good money with and good conditions he accepts. But you will see Benavidez against Artur. You will see Benavidez against Bivol. You will see Benvidas against Opetaia if they're ready."

It's been over three years since Mike Tyson correctly identified that people are ducking the Mexican Monster and over half a decade since Benavidez has been calling out Canelo. We're now told that Canelo, who was a stone's throw from having a meme influencer fight earlier this year, has already earmarked his 2026 Cindo De Mayo and Mexican Independence Weekend opponents (Canelo-Sheeraz looks like it's all but guaranteed). I'd rather have not known tbh. At least Benavidez should have some good fights coming up if Opetaia stops fighting bums and if Bivol-Beterbiev 3 ever happens (more on that below).

Floyd Schofield

"Okay, put yourself in my place, in my shoes. Okay, put yourself in my shoes. Okay. Guy, 36 hours before a fight with Shakur, with good money—good money—when I say good money, he quit. And suddenly his father saying a lot of things not true about us and about my country. And after that he goes and takes a normal fight with 10% of what we offered for him. You think this guy deserves to get another chance? If he complete like this, if I am man [who] doesn't like boxing, I will say to Shakur, ‘Okay, thank you. Goodbye. This is $50,000 for the camp and for your training and thank you.’ Right? I bring another fighter for Shakur in 36 hours, right? Then, if this guy is sick in the hospital, okay, okay, I believe him. Why are he and his father going to the media and lying about us and about our country and how we handle him? And this is all not true. And we have it in emails and WhatsApp and he thanks us and everything. I want to tell you this is the problem. If you deal with us and deal with me as a promoter, as you're dealing with promoters, talking lies, talking bad words – this is a different situation. We are different. You understand me? We respect you, you respect us. We are not doing ‘Oh, I will not lose money if I don't have him in my card.’ Maybe some promoters handle him differently. ‘Oh, just do it’ because they want to benefit from him. No, I don't care. Respect me, you will get my eyes. Doesn't respect me? I will go on my way and you'll be begging, chasing me."

Now, I don't know all about Floyd Schofield's hospitalization (or why the original video was deleted) but I remember that Daniel Dubois pulled out his fight with joeboxerparker and he didn't reveal what was the matter with him either. He didn't even bother to post a reel from the hospital. The issue here was the accusation from Floyd Schofield Sr. that his son was poisoned, like Ronaldo was before the 1998 World Cup final. It's an accusation that Schofield Sr. has not backed down from. It sounds like that while there are no enemies, there are grudges.

Tampering allegations by Berlanga's wife

"I want to tell you something. I don't take anything personal. And this is a situation, we are playing in a stadium in the eye of the the New York commission and they are the toughest commission in America with big companies with big contracts with big referees with cameras with everything. If I take it from the white [wide? wife?] side and the good side, she's the wife of her husband and the husband got beaten very bad and she wants any excuses - I will not blame her. But if something like this is true there are a lot of big problems that will happen for Sheeraz and for everyone. And even the show and the reputation of the show, right?"

ICYMI Edgar Berlanga's wife, Genesis Calderon, took to Instagram to cope about her husband's knockout loss. "Something doesn't add up. [...] If that's true, [...] YES, THE WRAPS WERE SIGNED BY THE COMMISSION, BUT... [...] No excuses. No complaints. [...] I sat ringside with tears in my eyes – not from the loss, but from what felt unfair. THIS NEEDS TO BE INVESTIGATED. This isn't bitterness. It's concern." I'm sure she sincerely believes this. But the key words are that she said it "felt unfair". There isn't much reason to add further insult to the knockout injury. I don't think Berlanga said anything so I don't think there's much point to interviewers bring up his wife's sour grapes.

Jake Paul

"I am not against him. I am against some kinds of fights he does. I want to tell you an example and a surprise, I am thinking me and him doing him against Joshua now. I want to tell you something. Joshua, if he destroys him, it will be good for me. Joshua against Jake Paul, if Joshua destroys him, the headache of Jake Paul will go from my mind. If Jake Paul wins, I will know that Joshua is finished and Jake Paul deserves ranking and deserves to have a future in boxing, right? I want to tell you something. You tell me now ‘What about Berlanga against [Paul]?’ I am not very sure that Berlanga can knock him out. Joshua, I have a good feeling. I have a good feeling. I have good feelings. I don't want 50/50 in this situation, I want 99 to 1. I want to tell you something. Jake Paul accepted. Now next week I will talk with Joshua about it."

I don't care much for the Paul brothers. Call me a curmudgeonous oldhead, but I don't think it's a good long-term strategy to push memes over real fighters. How many years has this been going on now? How many more until the e-celeb era is over and boxing can aim for mainstream relevance sans people who will take their fanbase with them when they leave? Joshua may as well take the fight if the headhoncho is already openly speculating about if he's finished.

Drugs testing & VADA

"I want to tell you something. We are the most strong people defending VADA. We have big contracts and relationship with VADA. All the fighters in our cards are testing by VADA and all the times when we discovered anything, this guy doesn't have any chance with us again and we announce it. And the last things, like Munguia, we announce it right away. Imagine, Munguia's training and with the trainer and in the camp of Canelo and we have big contracts with Canelo, but we are straight in this. We don't go left or right. We are against any kind of drugs. Especially what they take for the athletes, what they're doing. This is straight."

It says a lot about modern boxing that 'we didn't try to hide a failed drug test' is something to celebrate. The comical cases of recent years include Tyson Fury announcing on June 24th 2016 that the rematch with Klitschko was postponed because of an injury, only for it to be later revealed that Fury failed a drugs test in February 2015, and Amir Khan's failed February 2022 drug test not becoming known until April 2023. Jarrell Miller has failed drugs test multiple times over the years but that didn't stop him receiving a payday to box in Riyadh in December 2023 or on the August 2024 Riyadh Season card in Los Angeles. There seems to be tolerance and forgiveness for drugs when it's financially convenient. But with boxing, it's the inconvenience of failed tests (and someone potentially getting seriously hurt by a cheat) that poses a huge risk to the bag and the future of the sport.

Jaron 'Boots' Ennis

"I want to do big fights. I want to tell you something. If I want to do Joshua and Tyson Fury next year, we are trying to do it and thinking about it. Of course, I need to have for each one of them tune-up fights first. Why? Because both of them are coming from losing, even if it is big fight, right? Okay, to build it up. But Ennis, this is the first time between me and him doing business. He asked to go to 154 and have tune-up fight first. I am not charity. Go do it with Eddie [Hearn], the tune-up fight. And if you are ready, you will have you will have in my side a lot of people waiting for you. You understand me?"

Boots and his stalled momentum rank as one of the bigger disappointing stories in boxing of recent times. Mr. Alalshikh is right to say that there should be big fights. But it is fair to point out that there have been several cases of people fighting semi-final or eliminator style bouts in anticipation of a big match-up over the past 2 years and not all of them have come to fruition. Yes, Boots should face a real fighter at 154. Put him in there with a Sebastian Fundora or Bakhram Murtazaliev and let him prove why people should care why he is. And Fury and Joshua should just fight to settle who the #2 heavyweight of this era was, I don't think there's anything to be gained by letting them crush more cans for confidence. Isn't that what sparring is for?

Bakhram Murtazaliev

"I want to tell you something. This is truth and this is right. And actually, I speak with 2-3 fighters about him and they are scared. They don't want to fight. I don't want to say names. They know theirselves I don't want to say names. We put good money in the table for many fighters and they disappeared."

After the mauling that Tim Tszyu got, I'm not surprised Bakhram is being ducked. Suffering from success is a terrible fate for fighters. Reading between the tea leaves, they presumably offered Boots this fight.

Gary Jonas (ProBox) beef

"I don't have a problem with him. I am a guy who takes it profesionally. I will tell you an example of some something like this and it's real. There is one fighter who goes against me and attacks me on Twitter. Okay. And after that he erased what he said. I forget everything. But when he starts to talk **** about my country and about our religion and about something like this, he puts me in corner, I cannot forget him because he goes too far. You understand me? You understand me? For that, I don't have any problem with him. But he needs to understand this is business and this is work. I will not blame the fighters. Maybe I will not deal with him directly but I will not blame the fighters. Why is [Lester] Martinez paying if he's doing something not good or something good? It is not the responsibility of Martinez. Right? And if Jonas is starting to talk the truth and doesn't try to attack what we are doing to boxing and attack our country or my religion or something like this, I don't have a problem with him."

I can't claim to be very familiar with this beef. I remember Jonas, who has been developing fighters with good matchmaking and a strong vision (on a fraction of the Saudi Arabian budgt), being critical of Alalshikh's approach on previous occasions. Jonas is also the owner of BoxingScene, which hasn't shied away from adding to the criticism and as a result their reporters have frozen out of press events affiliated with the Saudi sphere of influence. It's all the inside baseball stuff that, in an ideal world, would never be seen as a bigger story than the fights and fighters themselves. It's only in the absence of the sport running smoothly that the administration side of tit-for-tat arguments becomes familiar news.

Teofimo Lopez and the fumbled Devin Haney fight

"I want to tell you something. I don't go into the details with monies or something, you're saying numbers. But if you don't respect my country and my religion you will not have any chance to do business with me."

If Ryan Garcia is still in the loop, I'm sure Lopez will be too. The man carries his emotional support Ring Magazine belt like his life depends on it. I'd be amazed if he doesn't beg and plead for forgivess before inevitably getting it.

Carlos Adames potentially fighting Janibek Alimkhanuly

"I want to tell you something. He wasted my time and he wasted a chance. I gave him a good generous offer and after that he stayed four or five days, doesn't answer, and going into small details, you cannot understand it. For that, I take the offer [off the table]. They were part of the 'Night of The Champions' [Ring IV - Nov. 22 card] and Janibek doesn't have any problem in this. Adames is the problem. He also gives a difficult time to Luis De Cubas. Luis is our partner now. This is his mistake. If he doesn't fix it, we will miss him in Riyadh Season."

You may remember Adames for beating Alalshikh's preferred fighter Hamzah Sheeraz a little while back (though the scorecards said it was a draw). Another grudge not playing out behind closed doors.

Imam Khataev & David Morrell rematch?

"Not a rematch. Khartaev will have a chance with us in the future. And also Morrell maybe we will see him again in December. I like him and I like his style. I think he will stay at 175. There are a lot of fighters at 175 we can see him against."

I've not seen the fight but I heard it was a robbery. There are a lot of fighters at 175 and my guess is no rematch is in part influenced by keeping options open for Benavidez while he continues to wait for Canelo.

Terence 'Bud' Crawford next moves if he beats Canelo?

"Crawford, I will tell you something and you can conclude from it. When he signed the contract with us about the Canelo fight in January he said to me ‘This is the last fight in my career, Turki. I want to do it right.’ And we sign it. Before two weeks, when we do the first conference in Riyadh, I see in his eyes and he starts to say, to talk with me, he enjoys it. He likes it. He thinks he want to fight one or two fights if he beats Canelo. Okay. And we have a lot of options of that for both of them. I think it is tough to beat Canelo, especially when you go up two weight [classes] more. But Crawford also is a legend. Let's see this fight, what it will [provide] for us."

I still don't know what to make of this fight. On the one hand, I think Canelo has been losing his sheen. On the other, Crawford didn't look impressive in 154. What is there to say he'll do well at 168? It's a mismatch because of the weight difference and if Crawford gets hurt, people will have always been against it. But it's still an interesting fight because it could genuinely go either way. Whoever wins is a legend, and whoever loses is a fool for having taken the fight in the first place. High stakes and high drama.

Benavidez future & Bivol-Beterbiev 3?

"But you ask about Benavidez. You don't want to see Benavidez against Artur [Beterbiev]? You don't want to see Benavidez against [Dmitry] Bivol? You don't want to see Benavidez against Opetaia and cruiserweights? I want to tell you the situation and put you in my shoes again. When I convinced Artur to do the rematch, I put [it on], because Bivol asked for the rematch and the first fight was something amazing, right? And no one had the balls to do it because it is not a pay-per-view fight, right? It is an elite fight for the fans of boxing, right? No promoter handled it and no promoter wanted to throw their money at this fight, right? We take the chance and do it. And when Artur beat Bivol and Bivol asked me for the rematch, I convinced Artur. But I put one condition with Artur: that they have the third fight and if Bivol wins, we have it in our country. Okay? Bivol wins and Bivol stuck to this because of that the WBC [belt], he gave it away, right? To do the third fight? And I accept. The problem was only about the timing. This one wanted it in the last week of October and this one wanted in the middle of November and we are in the middle to fix it. And from nowhere they sent to me a letter that they have bigger offers than us and they want to do it in Russia. Then I accept it right away. Because I do it only because I gave them my word. It is a good fight but we do not care about the third fight anymore. You understand me? Okay. I stay with my word and said I will do it because I promised for both of them. When they delivered for me the letters, I accepted right away. Okay? I almost danced. I accept it because 'Oh you have more money, than what we offer.' Go do it. Then, they are now six weeks after that and nothing happened. And they don't sign contracts. Okay, by that time, they understand they wasted their time, okay. Then, they need to accept it by my way, not their way. I don't want to see the third [fight] anymore. If they accept, I will do the winner of Benavidez-Yarde. If Benavidez wins, I want to see Benavidez fight in the first quarter with one of them. If they don't accept, there are a lot of options. There's [Callum] Smith. There is going to cruiserweight and giving big offers for Benavidez and go to Opetaia. Benavidez will fight anyone and this is what I like of Benavidez. There are some kinds of fighters, they will fight anyone."

I said my piece about the Bivol-Beterbiev fights back in March, yet I think a third fight in Moscow or Saint Petersburg would've been special. It could've also been a big cultural coup for the Russian government and an excuse to celebrate Roy Jones. Benavidez should beat Yarde, and assuming Bivol wins the grudge match, he should be able to stake his claim by beating the man who beat Canelo.

Shakur Stevenson

"We pushed him hard in the last three months. Talking about the Tom and Jerry things, right? We pushed him hard, right? And in the end, what happened? All the people now like Shakur hundred times more than before in his last three performances, right? Even he thanked me and he sent to me a text message, he said ‘Now I understand you.’ But he asked me, you know he's coming from a serious injury. But [despite] that he takes the risk and fights Zepeda. I want to tell you something. On Wednesday, before the fight, three days, he had some small injury inside the gym when he trained and he's competing because he wants to fight. After the fight, he asked me, he said ‘Turki, I want to rest my hands. Then maybe at the end of the year or the beginning of '26, I am ready. I am with you.’ I said Shakur, if I want to see you again, but I want big fight. My dream is Tank [Gervonta 'Tank' Davis]. If Tank doesn't happen, let's think, there are a lot of fights. Now, there is Conor Benn. There are a lot of options. But Shakur, next time there is no tune-up. We want big fights."

I'm not sure Shakur Stevenson against another British-level fighter with no world championship credentials is a big fight, especially since moving up to 147 from 135 just for Conor Benn would interfere with the logistics of a Tank fight. The Floyd Schofield fight would still be interesting I suppose even though Stevenson and Alalshikh both say it's dead in the water. But if Tank's legal troubles are a barrier then a fight against Lamont Roach Jr. is the natural play. I'll disparagingly compare Shakur Stevenson to Floyd Mayweather if he goes his entire career having never faced another top fighter at their best.

Who was Tom & Jerry boxing referring to?

"It is for who's fighting with this style. I want to tell you something. Shakur played smart. He's fighting on the ropes similar to Mayweather and he's going around similar to Tom and Jerry sometimes. This is the boxing. It is the sweet science, right? It is crazy to be in front of another fighter all the time. I know. I understand. But it's also something boring and something you don't want to see, like the last fight of Canelo we had in Riyadh [against William Scull]. This is not boxing. Because of that we will miss him in Riyadh Season and wish him good luck. I will miss [William Scull]. Maybe I will give him an offer for another sport. Not in boxing. Maybe for 400 yards, something for marathon, because it is not sport. It is not boxing."

This phrase has been ringing around since the viral tweet where Alalshikh said "I don’t want to see any more Tom and Jerry-type boxing matches where one fighter is running around the ring and the other is chasing him. [...] We want to support fighters who leave it all in the ring and fight with heart and pride!🥊🥊🥊" Somewhat undermining this demand for heart was the mean-spirited response to Tim Tszyu's recent loss. It's easy to sit on the sidelines and say fighters should be willing to take punishment but it's usually a call from bloodthirsty fans or red-blooded ex-fighters, it's not common for a big promoter to say they want to see more cajones. Mayweather was an extremely boring fighter but he still sold tickets. It's just a question of matchmaking and promotion. People liked Tom & Jerry regardless of who they knew would win.

Pacquiao-Mayweather 2?

"No, but I am interested in if Dubois wins, maybe we'll do Dubois-Klitschko and he'll become the oldest heavyweight fighter ever to have chance at the world title. What about that?"

The Klitschko return has been teased for a minute now. It's a moot point since Dubois lost but noteworthy that Mr. Alalshikh keeps bringing it up. And while I am also not interested in a Hype of The Century rematch, there's no denying that it would get a lot of attention. Imagine if a big fight that everybody was watching had a huge undercard for breakout talents to make a big impression, rather than just plugging in Leo Santa Cruz to stink out the joint before the main event.

Deontay Wilder's next fight

"I want to tell you something. I am ready to to have it. But he needs to do one fight with me before with a serious fighter to prove to me that he's the Wilder of the old times. Excuse me. I give him two chances before and he disappointed me against Parker and Zhang, right? He needs to prove to me that it's worth doing Joshua-Wilder. Excuse me. And the last fight of his, it doesn't convince me."

Wilder didn't convince many people with his unimpressive knockout victory over a palooka you've never heard of and will never hear of again. But, as I mentioned earlier in regards to Joshua-Fury, they may as well match these guys up after losses. It would be better to let them prove they're not cans by beating their contemporaries instead of beating cans. If everyone is so convinced Wilder is over the hill, why not put him in the ring with Moses Itauma?

Agit Kabayel's next fight

"What are the options? All the belts are fighting on the 19th. What are the options for him? Parker wants to wait for the result of Dubois-Usyk. He's the mandatory. Right? Why would he take the risky fight? If he accept it, I will do it yesterday. But he will not accept it."

Parker ducking Kabayel to get his shot at the undisputed title is less egregious when you consider that Dubois ducked him for the same reason. Is Kabayel a boogeyman at heavyweight? Surely he's in the running as a tune-up bout opponent for Joshua, Wilder or Fury? My crystal ball tells me he'll probably end up being matched against Martin Bakole or Efe Ajagba, which won't do much for making Kabayel's name more known to the general public.

Haney-Norman winner vs Pacquiao-Barrios winner?

"Okay, it's big fight, right? But there are also a lot of big fights waiting at 147 and different weights. There are a lot of big options."

Who knows if we'll see them? The wait and see nature of boxing hasn't included this much waiting since before the Great European War of 1914-1918.

Predictions

The July 30 Japan card almost passed me by. I'm sure I've missed some of the lower weight division title fights already so far this year as well as one or two interim promotions (like Antonio Vargas below), oh well.

Jul. 30 - Antonio Vargas vs. Higa Daigo, WBA @ 118lbs

Higa was unfortunate in last fight in February. After dominating all but two rounds in the first 8 rounds of his fight against reigning titlist Tsutsumi (you could arguablehe dominated all but one), in the 9th round Higa scored a knockdown and looked to be heading for certain victory. However, while feeling his oats and rushing for the kill, Higa was dropped himself in the dying seconds of the round. From that point on the momentum was with the champion and the result was a tough but fair draw. Vargas was promoted after Tsutsumi's still undisclosed injury and his first ever title defense will be his first ever fight in Asia. The last fight may have taken too much out of Higa whose reckless style will catch up with him eventually. Third time's the charm or some fighters just have rotten luck? Whatever happens, this should be a fun fight.

Prediction: Vargas by split decision

Jul. 30 - Teraji Kenshiro vs. Ricardo Sandoval, WBA/WBC @112lbs

Kenshiro is too good. Kenshiro will not lose to Ricardo Sandoval.

Prediction: Teraji by KO/TKO in the second half of the fight