Is Turki Alalshikh The Most Powerful Person In Boxing?

As best as I can tell, he is the man in charge of the strategy to bring top-tier pugilism to be staged in Saudi Arabia.

New York will always have its allure. We will again see large scale events in Madison Square Garden, but right now, it’s about Saudi Arabia. Las Vegas is like an ace pug who turned old overnight, and looks cringey onstage. Not sure if it’s  given that Las Vegas ever regains the foothold that took hold hard in the later 70s into the 80s and beyond. These days, it’s about the moves being made by Turki and his team. 

The team…who exactly all that is, I couldn’t tell you. These folks are big on taking care of business, though, it looks like, with minimal inefficiency. Yeah, weird for boxing.

They are succeeding, and it’s not hard to pin down one potent piece off the puzzle: They have a considerable budget. I’m not one who fixated on who is making what, but I don’t need to know the sums to comprehend why Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn are acting like besties tells me what I need to know. That it’s hard to get oft-warring business rivals to act civilly and in concert. 

That’s made possible by the deal being offered by Alalshikh and company. The price is right to inspire an air of working TOGETHER to furnish a sellable product rather than promoting with one hand and holding a mic and spouting invectives toward foe/rival in the other.

I can, you can, any of us can choose to say, Ok, Woods, but… and then offer critiques.

 I’m going to resist that temptation, and focus on the good stuff: Turki Alalshikh is the most powerful person in boxing today. Powerful, and growing in popularity.

That visibility and positivity could surge if he decided that getting the price point in the 0-$20 range for PPVs will result in 1) Eyeballs/hits/clicks uptick and 2) Unquantifiable goodwill from under-funded consumers now surly about paying a premium to watch decent fare.

If Turki Alalshikh and his team continues this path, I do believe we are situated in a “golden age” of content, finally getting a climate where in actuality the best are fighting the best. Amen to that, I say.