Last night in London, the Ring Magazine Awards 2024 gala took place, attended by numerous fighters and personalities from the world of boxing. The legendary publication The Ring, recently acquired by Sheikh Turki Alalshikh, has started its new stage in style, with a big party. Under this iconic label – linked to that of Ryadh Season – the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority now operates, in what seems to be a great marketing move
The celebration brought together much of boxing’s royalty in the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College and many conversations were had in its corridors. However, the most interesting thing was to know Alalshikh’s wish list for 2025. The Saudi leader named five fights he would like to make, although this year will start strong. On February 22 in Riyadh, there is already a card headlined by the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 fight. We will also see Shakur Stevenson on the same card.
Aside from this all-important rematch, there are five more fights on Alalshikh’s list. “I want to see Chris Eubank Jr. against Conor Benn; I want to see, of course, Tyson Fury against Anthony Joshua”, he said. That was not the end of it: “I want to see Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford”, he said. This fight no longer seems so far away, as the Mexican met privately with the new boxing boss and spoke about a possible fight against ‘Bud’: “There’s always a chance, we’ll see, we’ll see. But there’s always a chance, and we’re here to make the best deals and there’s always a chance”.
Alalshikh is also looking forward to a clash that would undoubtedly be very commercial, although it would probably have to wait until the latter part of the year to become a reality: “Devin Haney vs Ryan Garcia rematch”. De la Hoya, promoter of ‘King Ryan’, heated up the possible reunion: “I don’t see any need for it. Ryan Garcia destroyed him and that’s it.” Finally, the Saudi spoke about the king of the heavyweight division. His Excellency said: “Oleksandr Usyk will wait until the February card. He has said he wants to fight one or two more fights, and I would like to see the rematch with Dubois”.
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