Turki Al-Shiekh has revealed the fights he wants to see in the sport. One of the best in terms of global appeal is Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford in the super middleweight division.
It will be a tough fight for the Turk in 2025 as three-belt 168lb unified champion Canelo (62-2-2, 39 KOs) has shown no interest in giving Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) a chance to fight him. That’s understandable though.
Turkey’s wish list
- Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford
- Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury
- Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney 2
- Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois 2
- Chris Eubank Jr. against Connor Benn
Of these fights, a Ryan Garcia vs. Devin Haney rematch would appeal to many fans around the world. It could be the greatest boxing fight ever made. British promoter Eddie Hearn insists Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury is the biggest fight in the sport. It’s not. There is no attraction for that old people fight. That fight is no longer interesting, and was never great to begin with due to the lack of solid wins for the two British fighters throughout their careers.
Ryan Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) wants to show fans that his victory over former two-division world champion Hani (31-0, 15 KOs) last year was not due to using Ostarine. That’s the picture Devin and his father, Bill Haney, painted to explain their defeat last year.
Brits want to see Joshua vs. Fury and Eubank Jr. vs. Ben, but Americans have no interest in these fights. Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury are seen as washed-up old heavyweights who have never defeated major opposition.
They are just spoiled, manufactured fighters—never the real thing. American fans don’t care about them, and they definitely have no interest in a domestic fight between Chris Eubank Jr. and Connor Benn. Those two are not world class and never have been.
Canelo vs. Crawford?
Canelo has nothing to gain from fighting a smaller, older fighter who is fighting two weight classes below him. Crawford should gain 14 pounds to make his debut at 168. This fight is just a means for Crawford to get his retirement money. Terence looked old and awfully bad in his debut at 154 against Israel Madrimov last August.
The performance showed that Terence is not out of the junior middleweight division and would end up losing if he risked fighting the powerhouses of Bahram Murtazali, Serhii Bohachuk and Vergil Ortiz Jr. they all beat him, and destroy his useless dream of retirement in Canelo.
The Mexican star might be more open to giving Nebraska native Bud Crawford a shot at the title he was brave enough to move up to super middleweight and beat two or three top fighters. Crawford doesn’t plan to do that for obvious reasons. He just wants the Canelo fight and you can’t respect that.
Turki can make Canelo and Crawford fight this year if he offers Alvarez a ton of money that he hasn’t seen in his long career. The Mexican star’s net worth is estimated at a a quarter of a billion. So in order for Al-Shiekh to get that fight, he may have to offer Canelo over $100 million.
You have to guess that Crawford would like wet his beak to at least half of that if not more. Financially, it doesn’t make sense. Crawford is not a draw, and the fight will not be even close to a draw.
“I want to see Eubank-Ben.” Also, of course, Tyson and Joshua. (Moses) Itauma deserves to be the youngest heavyweight champion,” Turki Al Shiek told Froch on Fighting YouTube channel about the fights it wants to see in 2025.
“He still has a year to reach this number (correction: Moisje Itauma has a deadline of May 19, 2025to break Mike Tyson’s record to become the youngest heavyweight champion),” Turki continued.
“On the American market, I want to see Canelo-Crawford.” I want to see Garcia-Haney, rematch.
