Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, stopped by Uncrowned and DAZN’s “Ariel x Ade” show on Tuesday. (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Turki Alalshikh joined Uncrowned and DAZN’s “Ariel x Ade Show” in a surprise appearance Tuesday to deliver a plethora of news about his 2025 boxing plans.
Alalshikh spoke at length about the Feb. 22 Riyadh Season card, which many have hailed as one of boxing’s best in years. The rematch between undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol headlines the show, with Daniel Dubois defending his IBF heavyweight title against Joseph Parker in the co-feature. However, many expected to see Jaron “Boots” Ennis’ name on the poster next to Vergil Ortiz Jr.’s.
“First of all, [Ennis] gave us his word.” Alalshikh said about Ennis-Ortiz falling through, “And in the end, he changed his mind [about] what I can do for him. I cannot force him.”
IBF welterweight champion Ennis turned down the Ortiz bout for Feb. 22 because he did not want to immediately commit to a move up to super welterweight, even though that’s where his future likely lies. For now, Ennis’ focus remains on unifying the belts at welterweight.
“[Ennis is] not [communicating] with me directly, but suddenly he changed his mind and he stopped answering and he doesn’t want to go to [154 pounds], and this is his choice,” Alalshikh said.
Following Ortiz’s majority decision win over Serhii Bohachuk in August, Alalshikh promised to put the WBC interim super welterweight champion on a Riyadh Season card. He hoped to have Ortiz on the Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury 2 undercard, however Ortiz wasn’t ready to fight on Dec. 21.
After Ennis was ruled out, Alalshikh said he tried to match Ortiz with unified champion Sebastian Fundora. Representatives from PBC rejected the proposal, though, as Fundora is expected to defend his titles next against Errol Spence Jr.
Former two-division undisputed king Terence Crawford was also ruled out.
“I try, and I push to do this fight,” Alalshikh said of Ortiz vs. Crawford. “But Crawford now is not ready and not training, and he has a small health issue, [he’s a] little injured. He prefers to fight with us after May. [Fighting in] May and [then once again] after May.”
With Ennis, Fundora and Spence, unavailable, Israil Madrimov was offered the fight with Ortiz.
Madrimov is already scheduled to face Bohachuk on the Usyk vs. Fury 2 undercard on Dec. 21. Alalshikh confirmed that fight will still proceed as planned.
Ortiz vs. Madrimov is part of a monster seven-fight card on Feb. 22, but it almost became a nine-fight card until Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren, the two promoters who work closest with Alalshikh, persuaded the Saudi Arabian minister to shorten the event.
“Eddie and Frank pushed me and called me 100 times.” Alalshikh joked, “They said, ‘What is this card? Do you want it [to last for] 16 hours?’ I said, ‘OK, cancel the last two fights. We delay it to March.'”
Alalshikh did not specify what those two fights were.
Canelo back in the fold
Alalshikh said he is still looking to pit Crawford against boxing’s biggest star, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
“I don’t know anyone now from the Canelo team, and I don’t have any connection.” Alalshikh said, “But if he’s hearing me, we are ready to discuss. But I want to discuss [with] him directly, without anyone in the middle.”
Alalshikh and Alvarez had a public dispute in August after Alvarez announced his Sept. 14 match with Edgar Berlanga, which clashed with a Riyadh Season sponsored UFC event, UFC 306. Alalshikh vowed to “eat” Alvarez’s event and also accused the Mexican superstar of refusing to work with him because Alvarez prefers to face easier opponents, which would not be possible on Riyadh Season shows.
Despite that, Alalshikh reiterated that he is once again open to doing business with Canelo in 2025 for a Crawford clash.
Big moves for Ngannou
Riyadh Season began its involvement in boxing in late 2023 with a boxing vs. MMA crossover clash between then-heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and former UFC heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou, which received a strong amount of criticism. But the critics were silenced by the competitiveness of Fury vs. Ngannou, so much so that a second crossover match between Anthony Joshua and Ngannou was scheduled. Joshua ultimately defeated Ngannou via second-round knockout.
Alalshikh said is he now looking to stage another boxer vs. MMA fighter matchup between Ngannou and former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. Should he share the ring with Wilder, Ngannou will have faced three of the four biggest names in boxing’s heavyweight division of this era.
“I need to sit with Wilder [for] two minutes to see his condition.” Alalshikh said. “I can catch it from two minutes [with Wilder and see] if he’s ready or not [to fight]. I don’t want to waste time and money anymore. I need to check first if he’s still got it.”
Alternatively, Alalshikh said he could work with Ngannou for an MMA fight.
“Francis will come to me in December to watch the [Usyk vs. Fury] rematch.” Alalshikh said. “And we have a lot of business [to discuss] together. Yes, I have on the table two options for Francis — one in MMA and one in boxing I want to discuss with [him].
“The MMA [fight], you know all the time, my answer is we want to do the biggest things.”
Although Alalshikh declined to directly confirm, he heavily implied that he was referring to a matchup between Ngannou and UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Other notes from the interview:
Alalshikh’s 2025 path for WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson, whom he handles alongside Matchroom, is the already announced bout against Floyd Schofield on Feb. 22, followed by William Zepeda. He then hopes to make a fight between Stevenson and Gervonta “Tank” Davis.
Alalshikh said he’d love to make a Fury vs. Wladimir Klitschko rematch if Fury beats Usyk on Dec. 21, as it would give Klitschko the chance to become the oldest heavyweight champion in history, beating George Foreman’s record. Klitschko, 48, retired in 2017.
Alalshikh said he is meeting with Ryan Garcia on Dec. 19 to discuss Riyadh Season’s potential involvement in his career. Garcia is currently serving a one-year suspension from boxing but is scheduled to return in an exhibition match on Dec. 30.
Alalshikh said he plans to have undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue fight in Saudi Arabia in 2025. Inoue is currently scheduled to defend his unified super bantamweight titles on Dec. 24.
Alalshikh is planning a Riyadh Season event in March, which would take place outside of Saudi Arabia due to Ramadan. An IBF eliminator between heavyweights Martin Bakole and Efe Ajagba will likely feature on the card, he said.
Alalshikh is also working on a show in May that would be either a Queensberry vs. Matchroom “5 vs. 5” rematch or a United Kingdom vs. United States “6 vs. 6” themed card. The “6 vs. 6” card would see six British boxers from Matchroom and Queensberry pitted against six American boxers from Top Rank and Golden Boy.
In 2025 or 2026, Alalshikh aims to stage a Riyadh Season card in Africa.