Who is Turki Alalshikh? The man behind Saudi Arabia\u2019s boxing revolution DAZN\/Associated PressTurki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia\u2019s General Entertainment Authority, controls the largest purse strings in boxing. It is no coincidence that the sport\u2019s biggest fights \u2013 such as Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk\u2019s undisputed heavyweight champion of the world clash \u2013 are taking place in Riyadh. But who is the man that ended the feud between Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren to give fans some of the best fights in boxing history? Who is Turki Alalshikh? Turki Alalshikh (Al-Sheikh), 42, is a Saudi adviser to the Royal Court and current chairman of the General Entertainment Authority. He has been tasked with bringing some of the biggest sporting and cultural events to the Kingdom and has looked to make Saudi Arabia synonymous the new home of boxing. His Excellency \u2013 a title given to members of the extended Royal Saudi family, of which Alalshikh is one \u2013 is no stranger to shaking things up in the world of sport. Whether it\u2019s the controversial breakaway LIV golf movement, bidding for the FIFA World Cup in 2034 or Saudi Arabia\u2019s increased involvement in F1 \u2013 his work behind the scenes has been pivotal in the country\u2019s attempts to shape its image as a sporting and cultural powerhouse. It must be said though that not everything Alalshikh touches, turns to gold. The 42-year-old owns Spanish top-flight soccer team, Almeria. Having bought the club in 2019, they finished stone last this season and have been relegated to the national second division \u2013 two years after making it into La Liga. But without question, Alalshikh has changed the face of boxing as we know it. Ending Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn\u2019s feud Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren \u2013 the two biggest promoters in the sport \u2013 did not get along. Well, that is, at least publicly, no longer the case thanks to Turki Alalshikh. The rival promoters did not speak for years and likely still would not if it were not for the involvement of His Excellency. It was even reported that the pair had never met in person until 2023. Yet on June 1, Warren\u2019s Quensberry Promotions and Hearn\u2019s Matchroom Boxing will put on a mouth-watering five-versus-five card to take place in Saudi Arabia, including Deontay Wilder vs Zhilei Zhang. \u201cWe should have really done this a long time ago in all honesty,\u201d Hearn told TNT Sports about his rivalry with Warren; \u201cIt has taken His Excellency, who could not care less [about our rivalry] and told us to move the sport forward.\u201d \u201cThis is not a guy [Alalshikh] asking what he has got to do and how to bring boxing to Saudi Arabia,\u201d he added. \u201cHe is telling us that he likes this guy and that guy, and how about this guy versus that guy. \u201cWe are looking at the undercards, and traditionally, we would look at an undercard as a business and say, \u2018That\u2019s enough\u2019 [financially]. He is the opposite. He wants more and more, and that is amazing for fight fans.\u201d His Excellency has given fans undercards full of world title fights and genuine coin-flips that could go either way, especially in the heavyweight division. Boxing\u2019s biggest fights As Hearn has said, Turki Alalshikh has produced some mouthwatering boxing cards for fans. Last year\u2019s \u2018Day of Reckoning\u2019 in Saudi Arabia saw Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, Joseph Parker, Daniel Dubois, Jarrell Milller, Filip Hrgovic and Otto Wallin all fight on the same card. His Excellency has promoted Joshua\u2019s last two fights (Wallin and Ngannou), as well as Fury\u2019s (Ngannou and Usyk) \u2013 with fans now hopeful that there is a long-awaited pathway for AJ and The Gypsy King to go toe-to-toe. And for those hoping that a bout could be held in Wembley, London \u2013 not in Saudi \u2013 Alalshikh has proven that his reach extends beyond Riyadh. Terence Crawford\u2019s upcoming fight with Israil Madrimov will take place in Los Angeles on August 3 with another blockbuster card including the likes of Andy Ruiz, Tim Tszyu and Jarrell Miller. But His Excellency is not done there, eyeing up what would be a hugely popular fight between Crawford and Canelo Alvarez. Ahead of Anthony Joshua\u2019s upcoming fight in September, likely against the winner of Daniel Dubois and Filip Hrgovic, Alalshikh wants Naoya Inoue to feature, while a super fight with Gervonta Davis also waits in the wings. Turki Alalshikh\u2019s promoted fights Tyson Fury vs Francis Ngannou – Anthony Joshua vs Otto Wallin & Deontay Wilder vs Joseph Parker – Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou – Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk – Matchroom vs Queensberry five v five (incl. Deontay Wilder vs Zhilei Zhang) – Terence Crawford vs Israil Madrimov – For all the biggest results and upcoming fights this year, check out Dexerto\u2019s 2024 boxing schedule.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Who is Turki Alalshikh? The man behind Saudi Arabia\u2019s boxing revolution DAZN\/Associated PressTurki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia\u2019s General Entertainment Authority, controls the largest purse strings in boxing. It is no coincidence that the sport\u2019s biggest fights \u2013 such as Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk\u2019s undisputed heavyweight champion of the world clash \u2013 are taking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21752\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}