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His Excellency Turki Alalshikh addresses Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua venue speculation

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His Excellency Turki Alalshikh is considered to be the primary promoter who’s in charge of organizing the long-awaited heavyweight boxing match between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.

The Saudi Arabian boxing promoter, who’s one of the key figures associated with the Riyadh Season sports venture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has now addressed the rumors about the venue where Fury vs. Joshua would transpire.

His Excellency Turki Alalshikh earned praise from fight fans for his efforts to book Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua

Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, both former unified heavyweight champions who are considered to be legendary pugilists, have been at loggerheads for years.

Their rivalry dates back to their respective amateur boxing careers when they were making their way up the boxing food chain in their native England.

Currently, the 37-year-old Fury and the 36-year-old Joshua find themselves at a stage where their feud is reaching a crescendo.

Back in April, the boxing community was set abuzz with excitement, as Alalshikh put forth his plan for a two-fight deal to settle the Fury-Joshua rivalry.

Fight fans heaped praise on him, with many hailing him for working tirelessly toward making the elusive heavyweight dream matchup a reality.

HE Turki Alalshikh talks venue speculation, as Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua prep with warm-up fights

As of this time, Oleksandr Usyk is the unified heavyweight champion, boasting three of the big-four boxing titles — holding the WBA, WBC, and IBF heavyweight belts. Meanwhile, Daniel Dubois possesses the WBO heavyweight belt.

Usyk is coming off a controversial TKO win over kickboxing legend Rico Verhoeven in their heavyweight title boxing matchup that went down last month.

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His Excellency Turki Alalshikh played a pivotal role in promoting that match as well. He’s been keen to give fans the Usyk-Verhoeven rematch and also hand Agit Kabayel his much-awaited title shot.

Considering the variables at play, the consensus is that the winner of Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua could enter the title picture. Nevertheless, it’d be delayed if an immediate rematch between the two foes is to be made.

That aside, Joshua first has to get past Kristian Prenga. “AJ” is booked to box against Prenga, in what some have deemed a warm-up fight for him, in Riyadh on July 25.

Elsewhere, Fury already had a purported warm-up fight before his eventual grudge match against Joshua. “The Gypsy King” bested Arslanbek Makhmudov via unanimous decision in April.

Fury is also likely to compete in another boxing match, a supposed warm-up fight, in Dublin, Ireland, on August 1. The Fury vs. Joshua fight is being targeted for November of this year. However, there have been many rumors regarding its venue.

HE Turki Alalshikh has now chimed in to clarify that he hasn’t finalized the venue as of yet.

In his X post that he ended with a shrugging and boxing glove emoji — seemingly implying his indifference to the myriad of rumors regarding the boxing match — Alalshikh wrote:

“Till now I have not decided yet where the fight will take place and will work with me some ppl are making up a stories about it .. if you want to know the facts take it from me or the ring. If you want to waste your time listen to others .. I think you have tried me all past years and you know that what ever I say I do.”

Miscellaneous elements linked to the mega-fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua

UFC CEO and president and Zuffa Boxing founder, Dana White, recently indicated that he would be involved with Alalshikh in promoting Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua.

Intriguingly, Fury made a public appearance and spoke about his association with White at the high-profile UFC Freedom 250 event on June 14.

Meanwhile, Fury’s longtime promoter, Queensberry Promotions’ Frank Warren, countered that his business association with Fury is still intact.

Also, Joshua’s longtime promoter, Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn, has been at odds with Dana White as of late and is even serving as the advisor of UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.

In a nutshell, the Fury-Joshua fight seems to have a number of combat sports bigwigs eager to promote it, further reaffirming the magnitude of the fight and feud.

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BOXING

Tyson Fury says Kabayel, Dubois could be options if Anthony Joshua fight falls through

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little under a year ago, Tyson Fury said there were two men in the heavyweight division he had no intention of fighting.

One was Joseph Parker, the other was Agit Kabayel. The reason was the same for both, with Fury telling The Mirror that he considered both “brothers” and “lovely guys,” having extensively trained with both men in the past, and that he “won’t fight either man for any amount of money, because some things ain’t worth fighting for.”

It was a fair stance. Fury wasn’t and isn’t short on people he can make big money to fight, and if he doesn’t want to do it against someone he considers a genuine friend, that’s fair enough. The idea of Fury fighting Kabayel had also come up years prior, before Kabayel had really broken through as a serious contender and was operating at the European level, and it was understood then, too, that Fury just didn’t have interest in facing his friend

But boxing does have its ways of enticing fighters to do what they’d perhaps truly rather not, and the developing situation with the WBC heavyweight title may be enough to change Fury’s mind on fighting Kabayel.

Kabayel has been ordered into a WBC title fight against Oleksandr Usyk. The sanctioning body has given the two until June 30 to make a deal before it goes to purse bids. And as mentioned earlier, there is a chance that Usyk will vacate the title in order to go after bigger money in a rematch with Rico Verhoeven.

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If that were to happen, and Fury’s planned mega-fight with Anthony Joshua falls apart somehow — and there are various ways it could — then Fury, the WBC’s No. 1 ranked contender, could find himself ordered to face Kabayel for the WBC title, which Kabayel would be upgraded to holding from his current interim status.

Fury also spoke to iFL TV about potentially fighting WBO titleholder Daniel Dubois.

On the potential of fighting Agit Kabayel

“I’m No. 1 ranked with the WBC again, if (Usyk) pulls out of the fight with Kabayel, then I’m in with Kabayel. If the Joshua fight doesn’t happen for whatever reason, then I’ll get my shot at (becoming) three times (world champion) against Kabayel, and I’ll take it to Wembley. … Kabayel’s a big destroying man, who I’ve known from being a young lad. And helped promote him, manage him, look after him, everything. That’d be great.”

On Daniel Dubois as a possible option

“Yeah, of course, I’d fight anybody. I don’t give a shit, man, who I fight. I thought Dubois did a beautiful job in his last fight against Wardley. It was an unbelievable fight, by the way, congratulations to both men. They knocked the shit out of each other.”

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Tyson Fury says Kabayel, Dubois could be options if Anthony Joshua fight falls through

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A little under a year ago, Tyson Fury said there were two men in the heavyweight division he had no intention of fighting.

One was Joseph Parker, the other was Agit Kabayel. The reason was the same for both, with Fury telling The Mirror that he considered both “brothers” and “lovely guys,” having extensively trained with both men in the past, and that he “won’t fight either man for any amount of money, because some things ain’t worth fighting for.”

It was a fair stance. Fury wasn’t and isn’t short on people he can make big money to fight, and if he doesn’t want to do it against someone he considers a genuine friend, that’s fair enough. The idea of Fury fighting Kabayel had also come up years prior, before Kabayel had really broken through as a serious contender and was operating at the European level, and it was understood then, too, that Fury just didn’t have interest in facing his friend.

 

But boxing does have its ways of enticing fighters to do what they’d perhaps truly rather not, and the developing situation with the WBC heavyweight title may be enough to change Fury’s mind on fighting Kabayel.

Kabayel has been ordered into a WBC title fight against Oleksandr Usyk. The sanctioning body has given the two until June 30 to make a deal before it goes to purse bids. And as mentioned earlier, there is a chance that Usyk will vacate the title in order to go after bigger money in a rematch with Rico Verhoeven.

If that were to happen, and Fury’s planned mega-fight with Anthony Joshua falls apart somehow — and there are various ways it could — then Fury, the WBC’s No. 1 ranked contender, could find himself ordered to face Kabayel for the WBC title, which Kabayel would be upgraded to holding from his current interim status.

Fury also spoke to iFL TV about potentially fighting WBO titleholder Daniel Dubois.

On the potential of fighting Agit Kabayel

“I’m No. 1 ranked with the WBC again, if (Usyk) pulls out of the fight with Kabayel, then I’m in with Kabayel. If the Joshua fight doesn’t happen for whatever reason, then I’ll get my shot at (becoming) three times (world champion) against Kabayel, and I’ll take it to Wembley. … Kabayel’s a big destroying man, who I’ve known from being a young lad. And helped promote him, manage him, look after him, everything. That’d be great.”

On Daniel Dubois as a possible option

“Yeah, of course, I’d fight anybody. I don’t give a shit, man, who I fight. I thought Dubois did a beautiful job in his last fight against Wardley. It was an unbelievable fight, by the way, congratulations to both men. They knocked the shit out of each other.”

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