Eddie Hearn says he’s unsure if discussions will occur between Canelo Alvarez and His Excellency Turki Alalshikh for a fight with Terence Crawford in 2025.
Hearn says Turki was upset recently that the Mexican superstar Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) didn’t at least want to speak to him about putting together a fight with Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), who His Excellency is high on.
Understandably, Canelo didn’t want to start negotiations for another fight while he still had a title defense against the young go-getter Edgar Berlanga on September 14th at the T-Mobile in Las Vegas. It would be a distraction to look past him.
Turki’s Frustration: The Pursuit of Marquee Fights
“His Excellency asked Canelo to meet him, and he said, ‘No.’ I don’t think there’s anyone in boxing who wouldn’t meet His Excellency other than Canelo Alvarez,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to the K.O. Artist Sports site, talking about Canelo Alvarez letting Turki Alalshikh know that he wanted to wait to speak with him about a potential Terence Crawford fight until after his September 14th title defense against Edgar Berlanga.
There would be more interest from Canelo if the fight being offered to him by His Excellency weren’t a celebrity-esque one against Crawford, who looked horrible at 154 in his debut and would be food for any top 10-level contender at 168. Canelo-Crawford is YoutTube-level, and you can understand why Canelo has little interest in this match; it’s going to tarnish his legacy.
Canelo is incredibly rich, so it’s not the same thing for him to put off Turki as it would be for a normal fighter who wasn’t sitting on top of a $250M fortune and could bring in massive money against anyone they choose.
“His Excellency has in his head to make these incredible marquee fight, which is amazing for boxing, but when he can’t make them, he’s frustrated,” said Hearn about Turki’s desire to match Canelo against Crawford. “He has the ability to make them because he has the war chest to do it. I think he was frustrated that he couldn’t at least have a conversation to try and make Crawford-Canelo, but who knows if that conversation will come around.”
Turki’s recent fights involving former UFC heavyweight Francis Ngannou fighting Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury were strange. While they made money, they weren’t sporting fights; both should have been exhibitions. They were reminiscent of an old Floyd Mayweather Jr. fighting former UFC champion Conor McGregor.
Canelo’s Price: The Bottom Line
They shouldn’t have been sanctioned as boxing matches. Canelo fighting Crawford is a horrible fight without Terence going up to 168 and proving himself capable of treading water in the super middleweight division by beating a top-tier ranked contender.
“I also understand Saul’s position. ‘I’ve got a fight coming up. I’m focused on that, and then we’ll talk later.’ Saul is going to do whatever [he wants] to do. I like the strategy that Saul has. ‘You pay me the money, and I’ll have the fight.’ It’s simple. No lies. That’s the truth. He’ll fight anyone, but he also has a price in mind. That’s probably not the figure [$200 million for the David Benavidez fight], but throw it out there and see how close you can get.
“He loves to compete, he loves to make money, and he loves to fight,” said Hearn.
