Fury-Ngannou Organizer Speaks Out Over Big Fights In Saudi – ‘Don’t Listen And Care About Any Rumor’

Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, has spoken out against rumors over numerous fights being planned in Saudi Arabia. 

Alalshikh was highly instrumental in getting the fight between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou over the line. Prior to the fight getting made, Frank Warren confirmed that Fury’s next fight would be a ‘game changer.’ The fight, therefore, signalled a shift in power over who is the dominant force in Saudi Arabian boxing, as talks over an Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder fight via Skills Challenge died down. Although Eddie Hearn insists that terms have been agreed verbally, a contract has not emerged. With that being said, Alalshikh ruled out any big fights being made in Saudi unless he had confirmed it. 

“There is a lot of rumors in the market. I hope the fans of boxing don’t listen and care about any rumor until they have the official thing from our side. There are a lot of people talking about fighting in Saudi Arabia or meeting me. I never met anyone, except Frank, until now, and Bob and our team from Top Rank and the Tyson-Ngannou team,” Alalshikh stated

This would seem to suggest that the purses being demanded are no longer feasible. The Deontay Wilder and Andy Ruiz Jr. negotiations had proved that. The ‘Bronze Bomber’ stuck to his 70-30 split, while Ruiz refused to accept anything other than 50-50. The talks broke down resulting in the WBC title eliminator being scrapped. But since neither Wilder nor Ruiz hold any belts, the incentive on both fighters to face each other for a chance to fight Fury were big. And yet, until fighters come to that reality, then the chances of the big fights being agreed are still some way away. And with Joshua and Wilder exploring other venues, such as Vegas/Africa, a Saudi fight may not happen at all.

Social Media Response

That’s not bad advice for any fight, actually.

— Notorious JTB (@NotoriousJTB) September 15, 2023

They talking directly about Eddie Hearn he must’ve rubbed them the wrong way

— “Broke man broke man, yea thats me” (@drocthekid) September 15, 2023