by Keith Idec
TURKI ALALSIK promised American boxing fans early Tuesday morning that the stacked card he’s putting together for Feb. 22 won’t cost them nearly as much as a regular pay-per-view.
The head of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority revealed via X that the “Final Crescendo” billed card, headlined by the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol rematch, will cost “no more” than $25.99 in the United States and the equivalent amount in the “rest” of the world.” Alalshikh also revealed that British boxing fans should expect to pay a maximum of £19.99 to watch the pay-per-view event which will also feature London’s Daniel Dubois and New Zealand’s Joseph Parker, a 12-round fight for Dubois’ IBF heavyweight title category.
Alalshik, who has become the most influential figure in boxing since late last year, played off US President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign slogan by making the aforementioned announcement regarding what he called “one of the biggest cards ever.”
“We want the fans to be happy and enjoy it,” Alalshik wrote in a statement to his 7.1 million followers on X. “(Let’s) be great in boxing again.”
American consumers complained when DAZN informed its subscribers on Oct. 12, the day of the first Beterbiev-Bivol fight, that it would cost $19.99 to watch the British-centric undercard in the U.S. that Beterbiev-Bivol was made available to ESPN+ subscribers in the US for free. additional billing as Beterbiev’s promoter, Bob Arum, made a deal with Alalshikha to offer his light heavyweight unification title to a wider American audience.
Russian-born, Montreal-based Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) went the distance for the first time in 11 years as a pro with a unanimous decision win over Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, also the venue February 22. Beterbiev retained his IBF, WBC and WBO championships at 175 pounds and won the WBA belt from Russian Bivol.
Reducing the cost of pay-per-views, especially in the US, is one of Alalshikh’s missions in an attempt to rebuild boxing’s dwindling fan base. The price for February 22 is the same in the UK, however, as it was when Beterbiev and Bivol first clashed almost two months ago.
The intriguing undercard of the Beterbiev-Bivol rematch is listed below:
Daniel Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) vs. Joseph Parker (35-3, 23 KOs), 12, for Dubois’ IBF heavyweight title.
Shakur Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) vs. Floyd Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs), 12, for Stevenson’s WBC lightweight title.
Carlos Adames (24-1, 18 KOs); Hamza Shiraz (21-0, 17 KOs), 12, for Adames’ WBC middleweight title.
Vergil Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) vs. Israil Madrimov* (10-1-1, 7 KOs), 12, for Ortiz’s interim WBC super featherweight title.
Zhilei Zhang (27-2-1, 22 KOs) vs. Agit Kabayel (25-0, 17 KOs), 12, for the vacant WBC interim heavyweight title.
Joshua Buatsi (19-0, 13 KOs) vs Callum Smith (30-2, 22 KOs), 12, for the WBO interim light heavyweight title.
* Israil Madrymov must defeat Ukraine’s Sergiy Bohachuk (24-2, 23 KOs) in his 12-round bout on the undercard of Alexander Usyk and Tyson Fury on Dec. 21 at Kingdom Arena to face Ortiz two months later.