(KRON) — 5 years in the past, nobody would have thought YouTuber Jake Paul would get within the ring final fall with Mike Tyson — who’s a boxing legend however has been retired for practically 20 years.
Nevertheless, with how boxing operates as a sport, any struggle — together with one in out of your wildest desires — can occur if there may be sufficient cash to be made.
Enter Turki Alalshikh.
The Normal Leisure Authority of Saudi Arabia chairman and boxing mogul has deep pockets and the assets to basically make any struggle he pleases — together with staging one at a historic San Francisco vacationer attraction. In an interview with ESPN, Alalshikh introduced up the thought of staging a struggle on the Alcatraz Island jail. The interview, which was posted on Friday, has garnered greater than 1.4 million views.
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LEFT: Israel Madrimov (R) lands a punch towards Terence Crawford throughout the twelfth spherical at BMO Stadium on August 3, 2024 in Los Angeles. (Photograph by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Pictures) RIGHT: A ship passes in entrance of Alcatraz Island on April 7, 2011 in San Francisco, United States. (Photograph by Justin Sullivan/Getty Pictures)
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“I want to ask you about something,” Alalshikh instructed ESPN’s Mike Coppinger. “What do you think if there is an event/fight at Alcatraz jail one day?” Coppinger responded, “I would love that. I used to live in San Francisco. I’ve been to the Alcatraz museum. It’s incredible.”
Alcatraz officers confirmed to KRON4 that Alalshikh and the historic landmark have been in talks about internet hosting a prizefight sooner or later.
“We have had initial conversations with representatives of Alalshikh interested in hosting a boxing match on Alcatraz, but nothing has been formally presented to us at this time. We look forward to exploring the possibilities,” mentioned Alcatraz Metropolis Cruises Director of Gross sales & Advertising and marketing Cornelius Geary.
The Ring Journal, a publication owned by Alalshikh, reported Tuesday night {that a} struggle in Alcatraz headlined by WBO junior welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez is “close to finalizing a deal.” The struggle is being explored to happen in June or July. Minutes later, Alalshikh reposted the information on his X account and posted a scene from the 1996 movie “The Rock,” which takes place in Alcatraz.
Within the ESPN interview, Alalshikh continued to say that he wished to stage fights at different world historic landmarks, together with the Eiffel Tower in France and The Colosseum in Italy.
Alcatraz shut down as a jail operation in 1963, in response to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It later opened as much as the general public as a vacationer attraction in 1973. It receives about a million visors from world wide annually.
The final time San Francisco hosted a championship boxing occasion was in December of 2023. Native native Devin Haney gained the WBC tremendous light-weight title at Chase Heart. The venue was offered out, so there’s a identified urge for food for boxing within the Bay Space. Nevertheless, world title bouts being hosted in SF are slightly uncommon because the earlier one occurred in 2001, a Floyd Mayweather struggle.
Alalshikh is thought to be the driving pressure of many current high-profile fights, together with final yr’s undisputed heavyweight championship between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk. The struggle was in jeopardy of not taking place as every fighter’s respective promoters could not finalize a deal. With Alalshikh backing the bout financially, each side have been ultimately happy and agreed upon a deal.
Fights backed by Alalshikh’s Riyadh Season aren’t solely in Saudi Arabia. Final August, Riyadh Season staged the world title struggle between Terence Crawford and Israil Madrimov in Los Angeles.
Final fall, ESPN named Alalshikh essentially the most influential individual in fight sports activities, which incorporates boxing, MMA and wrestling. The rating used 4 components to make its listing: autonomy, cash, identify recognition and affect. Alalshikh not too long ago signed the most important star within the sport, Canelo Alvarez, to a four-fight deal.
With Alalshikh’s deep pockets, nothing appears not possible on this planet of boxing — even a struggle on the deserted jail-turned-tourist attraction.
