BEVERLY HILLS — Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is refusing to bend the knee to Turki Alalshikh.
The influential boxing dealmaker has been in the United States in recent weeks to oversee the launch of Riyadh Season in the US.
Terence Crawford headlined Alalshikh’s first card held in Los Angeles, and the Saudi advisor even addressed the 23,000-strong crowd, and those watching at home, by publicly challenging Canelo.
“If he’s smart,” Alalshikh said at an event World Boxing News attended Saturday at the BMO Stadium, “he’ll accept the deal” to box ‘Bud’ Crawford.
Alalshikh is also sponsoring the UFC Noche show on September 14, which takes place in the same city, Las Vegas, on the same night that Alvarez returns to the ring against Edgar Berlanga.
When speaking to ESPN about a scheduling conflict that sees the sports of mixed martial arts go head-to-head with boxing, Alalshikh said he and the UFC “will eat” Canelo and his card.
Reacting to Alalshikh’s conduct publicly and privately, Canelo told World Boxing News and other reporters Tuesday at the Beverly Hills Hotel in LA, “I don’t like the way he talks [about boxing].”
Canelo prefaced his comments by remarking that he respects “everybody.”
But he added: “I don’t ask for any fight. If he wants to fight me with other guys, he needs to do it my way.”
The power struggle between one of boxing’s top stars and the sport’s newest fight maker is stark and is a contrast to how willing promoters like Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren have been to oblige Alalshikh with access to their rosters.
While boxers like Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, and Dmitri Bivol have all competed at least once in Saudi Arabia, Canelo’s approach to Alalshikh is similar to that of Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis.
Speaking to World Boxing News and other reporters ahead of his June fight with Frank Martin, ‘Tank’ questioned how good Alalshikh could be for the sport of boxing and said any grand plan to bring all promoters under one roof in a de facto league “would never happen.”
In a press huddle WBN attended this week, Canelo said: “My response to Turki is this: Yesterday, they texted me and said, ‘We can talk about the fight in February with Crawford.'”
He continued: “They text me, and I say, ‘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.”
The Canelo vs Berlanga event takes place September 14 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and airs as a Premier Boxing Champions pay-per-view on Prime Video.
Alan Dawson is World Boxing News Lead Writer, a 2 x Sports Journalist of the Year finalist, and 5 x BWAA awards winner. Follow Alan @AlanDawsonSport.
