Turki Alalshikh and Saudi Arabia’s hold on boxing has the potential to become a lot tighter following news that a Global Boxing League is in the works.
The Kingdom’s involvement in pugilism dates back years, but it was only recently that Alalshikh, Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, has kicked it up a gear.
The big boxing fan and powerful businessman has managed to stage two undisputed fights in the space of a year, and, under the Riyadh Season banner, brought full undercards of close bouts – something fans haven’t been used to in recent times.
Working with promoters and broadcasters across the board, potential fights that struggled for years have been fought. Funded by the Public Investment Fund, news of the next ambitious move reached social media earlier this week.
A New York Times report with information from two insiders involved in the planning of the project has now revealed some more details about the logistics.
The league will require an initial investment of $2 billion and is set to feature up to 200 active male boxers to take part across 12 weight classes. The idea would be regular top-level fights to move up the rankings as a solution to solve the current problem of promotional, broadcast and purse disputes getting in the way of elite match-ups.
Each division would have a top 15 with regular movement coming from action on cards around the globe, not just restricted to Saudi Arabia. Alalshikh’s Riyadh Season has already begun this process with a Terence Crawford led card in Miami set for August 3 and a visit to London’s Wembley Stadium in September for Anthony Joshua’s next outing, potentially against Daniel Dubois.
The boxing league would further cement Saudi’s increasing hold over boxing, and would mark the nation’s most successful foray into a sport after many attempts with the likes of football and Formula 1.
It’s unclear how the current four major sanctioning bodies will react to the plans as it is assumed the Saudi-backed league is being considered to solve many of the frustrations fans and fighters have felt over the years with the WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF.
The Times reports that the project has not yet reached final approval stage.
