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Turki Al-Shiekh has revealed the fights he wants to see in the sport. One of the best in terms of global appeal is Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford in the super middleweight division.
It will be a tough fight for the Turks to put together in 2025 as three-belt 168lb unified champion Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) has shown no interest in giving Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) a chance to fight him. It’s understandable though.
Turk’s wish list
- 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. against Conor Benn
Of these fights, a Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney rematch would appeal to many fans around the world. It could be the greatest boxing fight that can be made. British promoter Eddie Hearn insists Anthony Joshua v Tyson Fury is the biggest fight in the sport. It’s not. There’s no appeal in that old-timey fight. That fight is no longer interesting and was never great to begin with due to the lack of solid wins by the two British fighters throughout their careers.
Ryan Garcia (24-1, 20 KO) wants to show fans that his victory over former two-division world champion Haney (31-0, 15 KO) from last year is not due to the use of Ostarine. That’s the picture Devin and his father, Bill Haney, painted to explain their defeat last year.
The Brits want to see Joshua against Fury and Eubank Jr. against Benn, but the Americans have no interest in these fights. Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury are seen as washed-up old heavyweights who have never beaten big opponents.
They are just spoiled, manufactured fighters—never the real thing. American fans don’t care about them, and they definitely don’t care about a domestic fight between Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn. These two are not world class and never have been.
Canelo vs. Crawford?
Canelo has nothing against fighting a smaller, older fighter who is fighting two weight classes below him. Crawford needs to gain 14 lbs to make his debut at 168. This fight is just a means for Crawford to get his retirement money. Terence looked old and woefully unwell in his debut at 154 against Israel Madrimov last August.
The performance showed that Terence is not cut out for junior middleweight and would end up losing if he took the risk and fought power punchers Bakhram Murtazaliev, Serhii Bohachuk and Vergil Ortiz Jr. Those guys would probably knock something off Crawford all beating him up and ruining his useless Canelo retirement dream.
The Mexican star might be more open to giving Nebraska native Bud Crawford a shot at the title if he was brave enough move up to super middleweight and defeat two or three top fighters. Crawford doesn’t plan to do that for obvious reasons. He just wants to be given the Canelo fight, and you can’t respect that.
Turki can arrange a Canelo-Crawford fight this year if he offers Alvarez a pile of money the likes of which he has not seen in his long career. The Mexican star’s net worth is estimated at a a quarter of a billion. So in order for Al-Shiekh to win that fight, he may have to offer Canelo more than $100 million.
You have to guess that Crawford would like wet his beak at least half of it if not more. Financially, it doesn’t make sense. Crawford is not a draw, and the fight will not be even close to a draw.
“I want to see Eubank-Benn. Also, of course, Tyson and Joshua. (Moses) Itauma deserves to be the youngest heavyweight champion,” Turki Al-Shiekh told Froch on Fighting YouTube channel about the fights he wants to see in 2025.
“He still has a year to reach this figure (correction: Moses Itauma has until May 19, 2025break Mike Tyson’s record to become the youngest heavyweight champion),” Turki continued.
“I want to see Canelo-Crawford in the American market. I want to see Garcia-Haney, the rematch.”
