Will Turki Alalshiki make Saudi Arabia the Mecca of Boxing?

[Rockybigblower]

Nah man, let's not go down that conspiratorial rabbit hole

Dont be blinded by the bright lights of the city. Homeless people are everywhere.

[BlackBenjamin]

Mecca of terrorism maybe

[RENE JUNIOR]

I feel like the "Mecca" of boxing is wherever the money is. It currently resides in Saudi. The atmosphere may not be there, and may very well never be. However, it's where top notch fighters are willing to do combat at because that is where they are getting paid. I would say it currently flagships the sport and is at the helm, but that title is never permanent.

Interesting way of putting it.

Many see the 'Mecca of Boxing' as a place where multitudes of fans flock to coupled with the events fans want to see.

But you have a valid point man.

[RENE JUNIOR]

I really hope they stay around until all the American "stars" that made the mistake of signing their life away with vampires like Floyd Haymon and Arum all retire, so that we can have structured divisions with a constant conveyor belt of talent developing, and have a logic pathway of no.1 contenders and champions for each division.

keep the belts so we know roughly who the best 3 or 4 guys are in each division, and have them all on the line once or twice a year.

It would be so great if Arum Haymon, shirley finkel Floyd and all those other pos gimps were chased out of boxing forever.

I wouldn't necessarliy go to the extremes of booting all promoters out.

because we see how Arum fighters, Hearn and Warren have been working together recently with Turki for big events.

Yet I totally get where you are coming from. Many fans are swick of the gimmicks of the traditional promoter scamming fans.

[RENE JUNIOR]

I feel like this will only last as long as Turki pumps money into this. How long will he continue to do so? I can't imagine he's got much return on investment considering the massive fights he's been putting out with a few weeks in between. He certainly has to be eating the losses with the idea that it will provide more exposure to Saudi Arabia for future events. Considering the money they have and his evident love for the sport, he's willing to go all in and not care that they're not making profits in return.

That said, atmosphere wise, it's almost night and day compared to US arenas or the UK. They're very silent, but somewhat come alive once a man is truly hurt and stumbling everywhere. Not so much on every punch that lands where you will get that feedback at other arenas around the world.

For now, we should just be thankful for the events he's been putting on and the matchups people want to see. How long will it last? Probably as long as Turki is involved and pumping money into it at a loss.

Amazingly said man!

That is the question indeed. Now the thing about it is, Turki must have so much money that if he is in this for the long run, it won't affect him at all because he is so ****** rich, OR he is expecting a profitable return in the longrun (long-term investment)

It's hard to say. What I can assume, since he's been in the scene for the short time he has been, seems like he is a genuine fan of the sport.

But indeed, let's see how long he chooses to pump money into the sport. I feel anyone who is as wealthy as Turki (apparently) wouldn't just dump so much money into something without expecting a nice profit. And I am almost positive Turki is not getting a nice profit at all thus far.

[RENE JUNIOR]

Dont be blinded by the bright lights of the city. Homeless people are everywhere.

Good point.
There is a major paradox in Saudi Arabia with the people.

But I wouldn't go down the rabbit hole in saying Turki gets his funds off of what you mentioned.

Maybe it's from oil

[PBR Streetgang]

Yes and it doesn't matter what people say about the atmosphere. Fighters will follow the money.

The dynamic of American fighters with Americam promoters fighting non-Americans with American judges and refs, in front of American crowds and media is cancer and resulted in an insane amount of robberies. Same with British sometimes too.

With Saudi take over we should get a much fairer competition with mixed judges and neutral media/refs

The dynamic of German fighters with German promoters fighting non-Germans with German judges and refs, in front of German crowds and media is cancer and resulted in an insane amount of robberies.

See, we can swap the country out for any other because corruption in boxing happens wherever boxing happens. But hey, if you only want to hate on the American blight...you do you.

[PBR Streetgang]

I feel like this will only last as long as Turki pumps money into this. How long will he continue to do so? I can't imagine he's got much return on investment considering the massive fights he's been putting out with a few weeks in between. He certainly has to be eating the losses with the idea that it will provide more exposure to Saudi Arabia for future events. Considering the money they have and his evident love for the sport, he's willing to go all in and not care that they're not making profits in return.

That said, atmosphere wise, it's almost night and day compared to US arenas or the UK. They're very silent, but somewhat come alive once a man is truly hurt and stumbling everywhere. Not so much on every punch that lands where you will get that feedback at other arenas around the world.

For now, we should just be thankful for the events he's been putting on and the matchups people want to see. How long will it last? Probably as long as Turki is involved and pumping money into it at a loss.

I agree with your assessment.

Turki has mentioned he has health issues and wants to put on the fights he wants to see as a fan. I have a feeling the Riyadh Season boom will only go on so long as Turki has the desire to put these events together.

Prior to his involvement, it seemed like there were only a handful of big fight being held there. I have a feeling once he's no longer involved, things will revert back.

[Pac=Duran]

The dynamic of German fighters with German promoters fighting non-Germans with German judges and refs, in front of German crowds and media is cancer and resulted in an insane amount of robberies.

See, we can swap the country out for any other because corruption in boxing happens wherever boxing happens. But hey, if you only want to hate on the American blight...you do you.

The point is the Saudis are neutral. They just want good fights.

And I seem to remember Fury winning in Germany against home town favourite Klitschko in a snoozefest of a fight that they easily could have robbed if they wanted to.

Robberies happen WAY more in america

[PBR Streetgang]

The point is the Saudis are neutral. They just want good fights.

And I seem to remember Fury winning in Germany against home town favourite Klitschko in a snoozefest of a fight that they easily could have robbed if they wanted to.

Robberies happen WAY more in america

Sure, ask Chudinov how he fared against Sturm in Germany. Of course you can say Sturm was the victim of bad judging against De La Hoya...but these are just examples. The point is, robberies happen all over. The US has WAY more fights, especially high profile ones than a place like Germany or most other countries.

But yes, Saudi Arabia will most likely be a neutral site for most fighters but lots of money is still involved and where there's money there is a potential for corruption.