NEW YORK – Turki Alalshikh, president of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, controls the biggest purse strings in boxing and said he plans to employ that power to fix a sport that ESPN says is “broken.”

The exclusive interview followed last month’s formal announcement of Alalshikh’s first boxing event outside Saudi Arabia, headlined by ESPN’s No. 1 boxer Terence Crawford fighting Israil Madrimov for the WBA junior middleweight title on August 8, 3 in Los Angeles. Alalshikh outlined his plans for boxing and detailed his upcoming star-studded card.

Crawford vs. match Madrimov is presented as part of the Riyadh Season – an annual state-managed sports and entertainment festival that attracts sponsorship from the region’s best-known companies – which begins in October in the Saudi capital. The title fight is intended to showcase the kingdom’s commitment to promotion, pomp and circumstance, which Alalshikh says is largely missing in boxing.

“We have carefully planned our activities for the last six months,” Alalshikh said. “We spend money on the so-called [commercialize] our season, and at the same time get to know the market and learn all its secrets. Now we have a lot of information, we have our own research and from what we have tested over the last six months, there are large opportunities in boxing. … But the market needs to be improved. You have to fix all the problems.”

Alalshikh wanted to bring back that prestige with deep, competitive cards that are common in the UFC but uncommon in boxing. The August 3 card may feature the deepest fight undercard support in years.

Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz defends his WBA junior welterweight title against Jose Valenzuela in a joint video, while Tim Tszyu fights Vergil Ortiz Jr. in a fight between two of ESPN’s top junior middleweights. A pair of former heavyweight champions are also scheduled to compete: Deontay Wilder vs. undefeated Jared Anderson and the return of Andy Ruiz vs. Jarrell Miller. Top talent David Morrell fights Radivoje Kalajdzic, and two-time Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz meets Antonio Moran.

“[Boxing] it’s broken, but I don’t think we need to put everything back together,” Alalshikh said. Indeed, boxing was at the forefront of global sport for much of the 20th century. However, the best bouts were relegated to pay-per-view broadcasts, the lack of a centralized governing body for the sport and the minimization of hand-to-hand combat at the Olympics, the sport’s popularity has since declined.

“We need to improve it with something different. We have a strategic vision where we have identified untapped opportunities and are committed to improving the market.”

Saudi Arabia hosted Anthony Joshua-Ruiz’s heavyweight title rematch in December 2019, the first major boxing event in the Kingdom, and also hosted the Oleksandr Usyk-Joshua rematch in August 2022. This was before Alalshikh and GEA entered the space boxing with The Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou fight will take place in October. Then came the December card, which featured Joshua and Wilder in separate fights. The plan was for them to meet in their highly anticipated clash in March, but Wilder handed the upset decision to Joseph Parker.

Instead, Joshua scored a devastating second-round KO of former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou last month in Riyad. On May 18, Alalshikh will fight his most anticipated fight ever – which he called the “crown jewel of his efforts” – in the undisputed Fury-Usyk heavyweight championship fight in Riyad.

“History will remember this fight,” Alalshikh said, comparing the event to the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman.

Two weeks later, in the same city, Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol fought for the undisputed title of featherlight heavyweight champion. However, Beterbiev suffered a torn meniscus and required surgery, which postponed the fight to Friday. Alalshikh plans to reschedule the fight for later this year. He had already rescheduled the Fury-Usyk fight for May 18 after Fury suffered an injury that postponed the fight from its original February 17 date.

Both are coin-flip fights that fans have been clamoring for for years, undergoing stop-and-start negotiations. All four boxers are on ESPN’s pound-for-pound list. While Alalshikh will look for a replacement opponent for Bivol on June 1, the five-fight series between Matchroom and Queensberry-promoted fighters will remain intact on the same day. Wilder will meet Zhilei Zhang, two heavyweights who suffered defeats to Parker, as well as Filip Hrgovic-Daniel Dubois. Ray Ford defends his WBA featherweight title against Nick Ball in his next fight.

Alalshikh told ESPN he would stage a Fury-Usyk rematch on October 12 or 13 to start Riyad’s next season, though he had originally planned to face the winner of Beterbiev-Bivol vs. David Benavidez, who will move up to featherlight heavyweight on June 15. with the fight against Oleksandr Gvozdyk. Alalshikh said he will look to match the loss of Morrell or cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia, who will defend his title in a rematch with Mairis Briedis on the Fury-Usyk card. But that was before the Beterbiev-Bivol match was postponed with plans to postpone it until later this year.

“Now my strategy,” Alalshikh said, “each card, its result, connects to another card.”

The August 3 card features fighters from several different promotions, a uncommon feat in a notoriously divided sport (two from Matchroom, four from PBC and one each from Top Rank and Golden Boy).

“I deal with everyone,” Alalshikh said. “…When I started in this field, in the beginning [the promoters] They were competing against each other, but now we’ve got them all working together.”

Alalshikh will then head to London’s Wembley Stadium for the Joshua-headlined event on September 20 or 21. The British star is expected to face the Hrgovic-Dubois winner for the vacant IBF title, in what will be another advertisement of the season in Riyad featuring first-class boxing in the kingdom. event in the UK

The IBF has ruled that Hrgovic’s mandatory title fight as No. 1 contender is overdue, so with Fury and Usyk requiring an immediate rematch, the winner of the May 18 fight will be stripped of a fight against Hrgovic-Dubois on June 1. This means that only three of the four established boxing titles will be available in Fury-Usyk 2 in October.

A month later, the Fury-Usyk rematch will take place. Alalshikh said this would happen regardless of what happened in the first meeting. Regardless of how both fights go, Alalshikh is targeting the highly anticipated Fury-Joshua fight in overdue March, as Usyk has already beaten Joshua twice. He said that if Fury and Usyk split the two fights, the rubber match could take place later in 2025, after the Fury-Joshua fight.

“They pay me a hell of a lot of money from Saudi, not to show up and do a boxing fight, but to put on a show and put Saudi Arabia on the map,” Fury told ESPN last month. “So that’s what I’ll do and what I’m paid to do: put on a show. The world’s greatest traveling showman, I, the “Gypsy King”.

Alalshikh revealed that the seventh and final event of the year will take place in December, with five American fighters facing off against five British fighters.

In December or January, Alalshikh will be looking to stage perhaps the biggest fight the sport has to offer, a fight between the face of boxing, Canelo Alvarez and Crawford in the US

“I work to deliver [Canelo]but it will be a large fight [for Crawford]” said Alalshikh. “I will discuss the names with him. “

As of 2019, Crawford did not compete more than once a year. Alashikhk said they planned to deliver Crawford-Tszyu on August 3, but moved to Madrimov when Tszyu was upset by Sebastian Fundora in March.

“Turki and I have a lot of respect for each other,” Crawford told ESPN. “…He saw the journey I had to take to get to where I am now. He just wanted to show respect for boxing and not just someone who would come in to stop these types of fighters and not let the world see him. It’s an honor that he chose me. He could have chosen anyone else, so I’m definitely grateful.

In the first half of 2025, Alalshikh will want to organize boxing galas in Shanghai and Berlin, which he believes are unused. Alalshikh noted that the Chinese film about a boxer named “Yolo” was a huge box office success, generating about $380 million after its March release.

He hopes to announce the 2026 schedule by the end of 2025, which will be a first for boxing. So far, each boxing event in Riyad has been preceded by a Hollywood promotional trailer, reminiscent of a box office hit.

“You see how desperate we are sometimes [commercialize] fight, and that’s because we understand that it’s a competitive market,” Alalshikh said. “…The market has changed. Why has this changed? Because we have a goal. We are committed to the long-term success of this industry; prepared to cope with challenges in pursuit of the goal. We will work with all interested parties to develop boxing and optimize the market. So everyone understands that we take this very seriously.”

The increasing frequency of fights in Riyadh – most of which would not take place without the kingdom’s financial backing – raises questions about boxing strongholds such as Las Vegas and London.

“We see that Vegas is significant and we never want to take its place, but I believe we have the right to organize large events in our country,” Alalshikh said. “Why is Riyad taking Vegas now, why not any other city? But you know what the difference is? We do it amazingly. And we attract attention. We are people who do it right or wrong. … I’ll make the right cards in my country and beyond.”

With three boxing events in six months – and many more in the pipeline – Alalshikh and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are turning heads in the boxing world. Alalshikh noted that boxing used to be the most popular in the world, but now ranks 14th.

“We can improve it, take it back and make our country… one of the cornerstones of boxing around the world,” Alalshikh said. “I take it very seriously.”