Canelo Alvarez's Fiery Remarks Set Off Boxing's Biggest Feud
By Joe Lago
The biggest fight in boxing is taking place outside the ring between the sport's biggest star and its newest power broker.
Canelo Alvarez, the undisputed super middleweight champion, and Turki Alalshikh, the fight matchmaker from Saudi Arabia, took shots at each other over the past day regarding Alalshikh's pursuit of a megafight between Alvarez and fellow pound-for-pound champion Terence Crawford.
On Tuesday, while promoting his September 14 fight against Edgar Berlanga, Alvarez showed that he is growing tired of Alalshikh's efforts to lure the 34-year-old Mexican boxing great into a matchup against Crawford, the undefeated American and current world champion in two weight classes.
"I don't like the way he talks," Alvarez said of Alalshikh. "... If he wants a fight, he needs to do it my way."
Alalshikh fired back on X early Wednesday with some choice words of his own, attacking Alvarez's integrity by accusing him of choosing "easy fights."
The latter jab had to hurt Alvarez, who has been criticized for not agreeing to defend his super middleweight championship belts against the consensus No. 1 contender, David Benavidez. For over a year, Alvarez has been dogged by questions on whether he will agree to fight Benavidez, a two-division world champion nicknamed "The Monster" with a 29-0 record featuring 24 knockouts.
Alalshikh had something to say about that as well, tweeting "I'm not the one who's afraid of fighting Benavidez or Crawford."
"Therefore, I knew he was wasting our time and making excuses with big amounts of money that can't be paid," Alalshikh added. "So I'm continuing my way to make big fights that serve the boxing world, and he's on his way to making easy show-only fights."
I heard what Canelo said that he respects me but doesn't like the way we do business.
— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) August 7, 2024
As for him respecting me, it doesn't matter to me if he does or not.
As for the way I do business, I know why he doesn't like it, because I only target big fights at fair prices, so of course…
Alvarez has the star power and marketing appeal to not follow in the footsteps of boxers who are being paid handsomely by Alalshikh to accept high-risk fights they normally would reject.
"I’m not going to be begging him for money ... like the other fighters," Alvarez said.
Boxing's biggest fight is far from over. Surely, there are more rounds to come between Alvarez and Alalshikh.