Turki Alalshikh is set for another war with Canelo Alvarez after losing the battle for Mexican Independence Day weekend on September 14.
Alalshikh joined forces with the UFC to promote ‘UFC Noche,’ snatching Canelo’s usual date before the super middleweight king announced his latest event. Eyebrows were raised as Alalshikh, and Dana White ignored the usual protocol that allows Canelo to single-handedly claim the May and September Las Vegas markers in the boxing calendar.
Canelo has had the monopoly on Cinco de Mayo and MID for years. However, that didn’t stop UFC’s plans; now, it seems they are paying for it. Ticket prices are lowering daily, and World Boxing News understands that thousands remain for UFC’s opening night at The Sphere.
In contrast, Canelo enjoys his usual sales and can look forward to a packed arena on fight night as he trades blows with Edgar Berlanga.
As his latest venture gets set to bomb, with his Riyadh Season debut in the United States reportedly losing money, Alalshikh aims to undercut Canelo’s Pay Per View by seventy dollars starting immediately.
Revealing his plan, His Excellency plans to make all his future United States events and beyond available at a knockdown price, causing massive concern to Canelo and his team.
“I dream of a PPV with a good price to make the fans happy and subscribe and get them to watch it legally,” Alalshikh told talkSPORT. “Usually, when I see a high PPV, a lot of people go and watch the fight illegally, and this is not healthy for boxing and the platform.
“What I will try to push is to have our Riyadh Season shows at less than £20 in England and less than $20 around the world. I would prefer to have one million fans subscribe and buy the PPV for £20 than less than 500,000 [for £40].
“The people go around it illegally because the price is high. In the future, this will not build boxing. If I give the fans good fights at a good price, then I will increase the fanbase.”
On his first card following UFC Noche, Alalshikh added, “The card opening Riyadh Season in October [Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol] I decide to sell it for £15 to the UK and $15 around the world.”
Those words go against everything Canelo has worked for his entire career, as his current purses hinge on Pay Per View price points above $80. If Alalshikh continues to sell PPVs in the US at that price, this will cause discontent with Canelo’s fans, who will wonder why they have to pay $80 or $90 [for Berlanga] when many of the other PPVs on offer are four times as low in price.
This latest collision course comes after their initial slanging match last month, when Canelo turned down the chance to work with Turki, stating, “My response to Turki is this: Yesterday, they texted me and said, ‘We can talk about the fight in February with Crawford.’ They texted me, and I said, ‘Look, I don’t want to talk about any other fight. I’m focused on this fight.’
“I don’t like the way he talks. If he wants to work with me, it’s my way. I don’t need it. It’s not the way to approach me.”
Alalshikh then accused Canelo of cherry-picking his opponents.
Lowering the price of PPVs to a level not seen for the biggest seller in the US since the 1980s will not be the right way to repair and discord between the pair.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
