Turki Alalshikh is open to financially backing an Anthony Joshua-Tyson Fury fight even if Fury loses twice to Oleksandr Usyk.
The chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, which has fully funded many of the biggest fights in boxing over the past few months, won’t abandon bouts he believes boxing fans will still want to see even if fighters lose. Alalshikh still sees a way to put together a Joshua-Deontay Wilder fight, which would’ve finally taken place March 8 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh had Joseph Parker not upset Wilder by unanimous decision in their 12-rounder December 23 at Kingdom Arena.
The 42-year-old Alalshikh will take the same approach to Fury-Joshua if Usyk defeats Fury in their heavyweight title unification fight February 17 at Kingdom Arena. England’s Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) and Ukraine’s Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) have reportedly agreed to a two-fight deal, thus the loser could exercise his right to an immediate rematch later this year.
Unless Fury-Usyk results in a draw or no-contest, the winner would become the sport’s first fully unified heavyweight champion of the four-belt era. If Fury wins, he would need to beat Usyk twice before securing a long-discussed, highly anticipated showdown with Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs), who will need to defeat Francis Ngannou (0-1) on March 8 to maintain his place in the Fury fight or even a third fight versus Usyk.
If Cameroon’s Ngannou upsets England’s Joshua, who has opened as a 6-1 favorite to beat the former UFC heavyweight champ, and Fury defeats Usyk, a Fury-Ngannou rematch obviously would become the once-unforeseen fight to make for the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC and WBO titles. Ngannou stunningly pushed Fury in his professional boxing debut, during which he floored Fury with a left hook late in the third round, yet lost a 10-round split decision October 28 at Kingdom Arena.
Alalshikh offered his perspective on those potential heavyweight fights during a wide-ranging interview with DAZN’s Ade Oladipo, which was posted to the streaming service’s website and social media platforms Wednesday.
“We want to see Fury-Usyk and the result, and the rematch between Fury [and] Usyk,” Alalshikh said. “And after that, we want to see Tyson Fury against Ngannou, or the people want to see it. And we want to see, if Fury [wins], we want to see him against Joshua if Joshua [wins]. If Usyk [wins], maybe we have [a] chance to have the third fight. And even if Usyk [wins], the people still want to see Tyson against Joshua. This is what we want to deliver to the market. And we close a lot of things about this.”
With strong support from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and its crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, Alalshikh aggressively has gone about offering the type of purses required to make fights like Fury-Usyk, Fury-Ngannou, Joshua-Ngannou, Joshua-Otto Wallin, Parker-Wilder and Parker (34-3, 23 KOs) against WBO interim champ Zhilei Zhang (26-1-1, 21 KOs), the co-feature of the March 8 pay-per-view event that’ll be headlined by Joshua and Ngannou.
“We are coming with new strategy,” Alalshikh said, “and new idea and new vision … to do and deliver to the market the best [fights], with good price, and make the [fights] that people want to see. We don’t want to waste time. Tyson Fury is 35 now, around 35. Joshua is around 33, I think. Usyk [is] around 36, Wilder 38, 37. Artur [Beterbiev] now 39, next week. Why we are losing time?
“The people need to see Joshua-Fury, Fury-Joshua, need to see Joshua-Wilder. And I hope Wilder [comes] back. You know, and there is rumor, and you know it, the fight was between Joshua and Wilder [for March 8]. But you see the result and the body condition of Wilder now. It would not be reasonable to have the fight now. We want him to come back. And I see Parker, what he’s doing, amazing show, and he’s one of the best boxer [who has come back] now, this year.”
