This week, Saudi Arabian chaebol Turki Alarshh revealed that he plans to match Mexican boxing sensation Carneiro Alvarez against former 147-pound welterweight undisputed supremacy Terrence Crawford, scheduled for December or January in the United States.
In recent years, Alalshh, who is the chairman of the Saudi Entertainment Authority, has already brokered a number of top tournaments, and he hopes that Alvarez vs Crawford will become a reality. In his latest interview, Alarshkh admitted that he would try to broker an agreement between the two sides.
"I'm working on bringing in Alvarez, it's a big battle for Crawford and I'll discuss the name with him," Aralshkh told ESPN.
Alvarez, now the 168-pound super-middleweight four-belt holder, just defended his title this month by defeating Jimmy Monguia, while Crawford moved up to the 154-pound super-welterweight division on August 3 to challenge WBA champion Islamel Madramov, also in Los Angeles, USA.
For Crawford, a win over Madrid Mov would close the gap to Alvarez, and the 154-pound upgrade challenge would seem "easier" as only two divisions would need to be moved up instead of the previous three.
It would be a great thing for Crawford to be able to upgrade to Alvarez in a row, especially if he challenged his opponent's four championship belts, and it was up to Crawford to get his wish.
In professional boxing, it's one thing to move up one division to compete for a World Title, but it's another thing to move up two or three divisions to compete for a World Title, and Crawford has the opportunity and strength to make such a breakthrough.
What left Crawford and Aralshch uncertain was that Alvarez made it clear that he was not interested in facing Crawford after beating Monguia last week, and he felt that it was a lose-lose situation, and even if he won his opponent, he would not win praise because people would think that Crawford had beaten a small fighter. Of course, the deep-pocketed Alashkh may be the key to this match.
Alvarez is currently working with PBC, the two sides have signed a three-fight agreement, the second fight has been completed, and the last one is still left, which is expected to debut in September, many people are speculating about who Alvarez's opponent in September will be? In addition, DAZN's Edgar Berlanga is also a popular choice, and is even considered the "only option", due to the fact that Berlanga is now a mandatory challenger in the WBA, and a fight with Alvarez is inevitable, and unless Alvarez relinquishes the title, he can only face it at the hands of the WBA.
Aralshkh's proposal to fight Crawford in December or January is a mysterious, purposeful way to wait for Alvarez to end its cooperation with the PBC, which has never cooperated with Saudi Arabia so far.
It will be interesting to see if the 36-year-old Crawford can beat Madramov, who has been dubbed by some as the "Golovkin II," in August, and if he does have two brushes, he could pose a threat to Crawford, who has never played at 154 pounds and will need to overcome his age and physical disadvantage.
If Crawford had defeated Madrid Mov, and had Alarshch done his best to facilitate his fight with Alvarez, would Alvarez continue to refuse?