Canelo Alvarez Rejects Turki Alalshikh’s Terence Crawford Matchup: ‘It Needs to Be My Way’
Despite interest from both promoters and fight fans, don’t expect to see Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford square off anytime soon.
Earlier this month, Crawford became a four-weight world champion, securing a win over Israil Madrimov at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
Immediately following the win, Turki Alalshikh, the Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia, expressed his interest in booking a big-money matchup between Crawford and Alvarez for a future Riyadh Season event.
Unfortunately for both Alalshikh and Crawford, Alvarez couldn’t be less interested in a potential meeting with the undefeated Nebraska native.
“I’m not asking for that fight,” Alvarez said in a recent interview. “I think Teofimo Lopez deserves it more than me. My response to Turki is this — yesterday they text me to talk about the Crawford fight in February and I said, ‘I’m not gonna talk about any other fight, I’m focused 100% on this [Edgar Berlanga] fight.’ I respect Turki, but if he wants to work with me, it needs to be my way” (h/t Sportskeeda).
Alvarez is currently scheduled to face Edgar Berlanga on Saturday, September 14 in Las Vegas, the same night as UFC 306, which is the promotion’s big debut at Sphere.
Turki Alalshikh moves on from Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford
Alvarez’s comments and an astronomical asking price of $150 million prompted Alalshikh to quickly move on from the proposed Crawford vs. Canelo clash.
“Just wrapped up an important meeting now with my team, planning for the upcoming fights that we will make for 2024-2025,” Alalshikh wrote on X. “I decided to disregard the Canelo [vs. Crawford] fight, as I don’t want it anymore.”
Instead, Alalskhik will focus on his upcoming card at Wembley Stadium headlined by a heavyweight showdown between Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois on September 21 and the highly anticipated rematch between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk this December.
