Turki Alalshikh is the most powerful man in world boxing. If he succeeds in breaking down the alphabet soup of boxing organisations, he’ll be a champion in his own right.
If you ever wanted to know how unimaginably wild boxing is, consider that one man swooped in several years ago, began splashing the cash and now effectively owns the sport.
Turki Alalshikh, the extravagantly wealthy chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, is the single most powerful individual in boxing.
The chaos of boxing makes this possible.
Checks and balances? Not in boxing. Not ever.
Alalshikh, the Saudi advisor behind the Gulf state’s big entry into boxing over the last two years, pays boxers so over the odds that none ever say no to him. Canelo Alvarez, boxing’s biggest ticket seller, tried to, but he soon came around. Even powerful promoters like Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn are obsequious around him.
“If he asked me to clean his shoes, I probably would,” said Hearn, nominally the sport’s most influential promoter. He and Warren even packed away years of bitter rivalry to work together – at Alalshikh’s beckoning.
Setting aside the claims of sportswashing, Alalshikh is also clearly driven by vanity. No deal goes down without a selfie involving whichever star he’s just brought on board. He loves being surrounded by boxing’s elite, happily paying to do so. They love him too, almost as much as they love his fat wallet.
Alalshikh even bought Ring magazine. His next big trick is to stage a massive tournament in New York’s Times Square in May. Then he wants to do one on Alcatraz. No half measures for the suave Saudi.
There have been efforts through the years by promoters and business entities to dominate the sport, most recently Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions. It’s still a going concern, but its outlandish ambitions were parked years ago. Reality can do that.
Alalshikh’s latest big play came in the past week with the announcement of the formation of the TKO boxing promotion with Dana White running the show. White is the bombastic (and brilliant) president of UFC (value: $12-billion) used to getting things done. His way.
For years he had threatened to disrupt boxing, but now he has the cash to do so. TKO Group Holdings owns the UFC and WWE and White has been given $10-million for year one of the new league.
Boxing, Alalshikh says, is “too broken” hence his big move.
He’s tearing down the sport and rebuilding it his way, believing that White is the man to get things done.
(White will learn fast, though, that professional boxers will demand more than the low-ball purses paid to UFC fighters).
The impact of the announcement was immediate. What did the love-in with White say to the big three of Hearn, Warren and Oscar De La Hoya, all of whom had shared in his largesse in recent years?
Noses out of joint? You bet.
If boxing’s big players are looking around nervously, none are more frightened than the alphabet soup of world bodies, chiefly the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO.
They are among the most corrupt organisations in international sport, absolute champions of wheeling and dealing to get things done. They fleece boxers of cash – a fat commission must be paid for every bout they sanction – and routinely manipulate the rankings according to the whims of promoters and power brokers.
It’s why heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe dumped his WBC belt in the dustbin over 30 years ago. He was sick of it.
The stories of the organisations’ venality are legion. Yet the parasites flourish because boxing allows them to flourish. There is no single entity to police them, no collective body to ensure they serve the sport.
Instead, they are all a fiefdom, doing as they please. Officials fly first class, stay in five-star hotels and are among the first in the ring to ensure live television coverage. And it’s the promoters who pay.
The new TKO league threatens to upend this warped model, rendering the organisations second class. Owning a Ring magazine belt already holds greater prestige as it is awarded to the boxer generally considered the best at the weight.
As things stand with the alphabet lot, you can have four or five boxers with a legitimate claim to being “world champion” at their weight.
Boxers themselves love the belts, especially with so many to go around. The losers are the fans who have no idea who the best is in each division. Yet they are the schmucks expected to cough up to watch “interim”, “intercontinental”, “silver”, “gold”, “super” and “regular” champions. And this is apart from the supposed real champions.
Boxing has never known anything like it. No one has been rich enough to shake the foundations, but Alalshikh is wealthy and keen enough to play the long game.
His entry has rocked boxing. Things may never be the same again.
