With Saudi money man Turki Alalshikh, it’s very much a case of one big card of boxing after the other, of one stacked card and then on to the next installment. We haven’t even seen the outcome of tomorrow’s big card, topped, of course, by the light-heavyweight unification clash between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol, or the outcome of the December 21 rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury. But Alalshikh is already plotting his next mega-card.
And Turki says he has a “surprise” for us.
Speaking with Sky Sports out in Riyadh, Alalshikh said there are plans underway for a second Matchroom Vs. Queensbury event, a second ‘5 Vs. 5’. And it’s been hinted that the big headline fight here could be the rematch between Daniel Dubois (Queensbury) and the man he knocked out in the fifth round last month, Anthony Joshua (Matchroom).
Here’s what Alalshikh had to say.
“See in February again Queensbury against Matchroom, 5 vs 5, we will finish it maybe this week with a big surprise and then let’s see the result about this fight, the result of the big fight December 21st, Usyk versus Tyson,” Turki said. “Joshua, Dubois, Tyson, Usyk, everyone, everyone on the line. This is what we want. We want the big fights and to see who’s really the best fighters in each division.”
When you have as deep a pair of pockets as Alalshikh has, there is almost no limit to the kind of mega-card or cards you can afford to put on. And we fans have, and are, the lucky ones, as much as the fighters themselves are benefiting from being paid big purses for the kind of fights they themselves want to engage in.
It’s quite mind-boggling to think, to wonder, which fights we could see in the planned February card. The first ‘5 Vs. 5,’ won, of course, by Warren, this by a shutout, was great, and a second slice will be most welcome. Dubois-Joshua II could well be the headline act, but what about the other four fights? And what will be the big “surprise” Alalshikh has teased us with (unless the heavyweight rematch for the IBF belt is, in fact, the surprise……)
Turki mentioned Usyk and Fury, along with Dubois and Joshua, and that’s just the heavyweights. What other great match-ups has Alalshikh in mind right now? And who wins the rematch here, Warren or Hearn
