Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua Headline a Bad Boxing Weekend

Turki Alalshikh might be the worst, best funded promoter boxing has ever seen.

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The marketing premise of the TKO-Turki Alalshikh alliance to fans is simple: let us monopolize boxing, and we’ll deliver what the fans want.

If this weekend was a test case of that premise, they failed.

When Turki Alalshikh introduced himself to the boxing world, it was as a gracious host and Chairman of the Saudi General Sports Authority, the behind-the-scenes super fan with the big, big checkbook.

Early events held in Saudi under Turki’s auspices, like the WWE’s 2018 Greatest Royal Rumble and the final of the World Boxing Super Series middleweight tournament — amidst rumors that it was Saudi money that made the tourney final happen after a chaotic series of events, “injuries” and seemingly intractable negotiations — didn’t even mention Turki Alalshikh.

The quotes in the press releases were solely from excited American and European promoters who suddenly had the means to make the fans’ dreams come true, albeit on the other side of the world.

Even Turki’s 2018 promotion to Chairman of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority didn’t come with an increase in his public profile as he allowed promoters like Eddie Hearn to take the credit for mega-bouts like Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua II, which just happened to be held in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.

Turki Makes a Big Splash with a Bellyflop in the Deep End of the Pool

When Turki did announce his presence in a big way in 2023 with the Tyson Fury vs Francis Ngannou superfight, his personal sales pitch resembled that of AEW’s nepobaby billionaire failson Tony Khan - the superfan who wasn’t Walmart.

In fact, Turki’s first quote in the press release announcing the fight didn’t come until the 15th paragraph, and the whole thrust of the document was about the exciting matchups and the high hopes for a boom in tourism to Saudi:

Now in its fourth year, Riyadh Season aims to create more than 200,000 employment opportunities and empower over 2,000 local and international companies to establish the most distinguished entertainment experiences around the world.

His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, who is leading the organisation of Riyadh Season 2023, said: “Riyadh Season has developed a reputation for staging iconic events featuring some of the biggest names and brands around, which is why people travel so far from around the world to be part of this unmatched experience. This year, we want to go even further and give visitors moments that will exceed even their wildest imaginations. With the events and guests we have lined up, we intend for this year’s Riyadh Season to create thrills and surprises for guests like never before.”

This is how Karim Zidan introduced Turki to our readers in 2023:

Ngannou’s contract with the PFL allowed him the chance to explore various boxing prospects. This, coupled with the PFL’s decision to sell a minority stake in the company worth a reported $100 million to a Saudi subsidiary owned by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, helped pave the way for his association with Saudi Arabia.

Venturing to Riyadh, the former UFC champion met with al-Sheikh , who chairs the General Authority for Entertainment and holds a influential position in Saudi Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman’s inner circle. An agreement was eventually reached to co-host the Fury vs. Ngannou showdown in collaboration with Riyadh Season.

By October 2023, Zach Arnold was warning MMA Draw readers that Riyadh was very close to a war zone that was likely to expand; you literally read it here first.

By January of 2024, Zach Arnold pointed out that Saudi money came with strings attached and they were not planning to settle for second-rate cards after paying first-rate site fees:

…“the powers-that-be” in Saudi Arabia were supposedly not very happy about the March 2nd fight card booked by UFC and that the Saudi UFC event would be postponed until June of 2024 …(and) the originally-booked UFC Saudi card would still take place… at the UFC APEX.

The UFC was trying to sell the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a warehouse-level fight card for $20 million!?!

As one can rightfully surmise, the Saudis were less than impressed with UFC’s business behavior and told them to come back under better terms and conditions.
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This is the back drop for which UFC must carefully navigate their reported $20 million deal with KSA for an upcoming fight show. The UFC is used to controlling everything.

Ari Emanuel’s recent decision to shift UFC & WWE into quasi-government contractor status puts TKO into a somewhat vulnerable position as a political shop. If you take the paycheck from Saudi Arabia, then you must do what they tell you.

Since the Endeavor purchase of UFC — and now the merger with WWE into TKO — the powers-that-be at UFC have gotten very comfortable dictating the terms and conditions for everything. Now they’re financially getting a taste of their own medicine. The UFC business model has dramatically shifted away from relying entirely upon selling tickets. They’re a monster in their own sport.

With a $20 million check, Saudi Arabia is showing you that they want a serious partnership with the UFC. The UFC is going to have to face an increasingly difficult choice: do we grow our partnership with KSA or do we risk getting bludgeoned the same way the PGA has?

In June, the Saudis finally got a UFC Fight Night card they were happy with it featured former Middleweight champ Robert Whittaker as the headliner in June 2024, rather than former interim featherweight champ Josh Emmett. Major upgrade.

By that time, Turki Alalshikh was already a familiar face to American fans, having introduced himself directly via an emergency appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani in February.

By June 2024, we were reporting on the nascent Saudi-TKO alliance and its big plans to take over boxing, and we were also reporting that Turki was taking a direct advisory role with fighters:

“I want to thank (boxer) Jared Anderson for taking my advise and seeking out to coach and trainer Sugar Hill to train him for his upcoming fight.”

A financier of a major boxing event on August 3rd giving advice to one of the boxers on the card in regards to who to train with surely isn’t a conflict of interest, right?

Boxing Fans Should Be Used to Turki By This Point

Boxing fans, especially Brits, have been waiting to see Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua for at least 11 years.

Nick Parkinson of ESPN sums up why this fight was anticipated for so long:

November 2015: Fury outpointed (Wladimir) Klitschko for the WBA, IBF and WBO world heavyweight titles in Germany. In an inspired performance, Fury outboxed the Ukrainian.

The less experienced Joshua was the one doing the calling out and there was already interest in seeing Fury vs. Joshua. Joshua told ESPN ahead of Fury’s points triumph over Klitschko: “100% I think me and Tyson could fight next year. People demand what they want to see and they are always coming up to me and asking when am I going to fight Fury.”

December 2015: Just 10 days after winning three versions of the world title, Fury was stripped of the IBF belt due to rules about mandatory challengers.

April 2016: Joshua picked up the same IBF belt Fury was stripped of when he destroyed Charles Martin inside two rounds. He became Britain’s second reigning world heavyweight champion along with Fury, who still held the WBA and WBO belts.

“Me, Tyson Fury and David Haye, we have to fight,” Joshua told a post-fight press conference.

“We can’t get through this whole era without fighting, we will get it on at the right time. It’s just bound to happen at some stage.”

Unfortunately, as the rest of this article chronicles, fans have gotten an endless loop of empty promises.

Failed drug tests, injuries, and “drink, drugs, and depression” on Fury’s part prevented the fight happening in 2016.

When Fury finally returned in 2018, after a couple of tune-up wins, he fought Deontay Wilder instead of Joshua, got knocked down twice on his way to a draw.

Then in 2019, Joshua lost to Andy Ruiz, Jr., which forced a rematch, while Fury focused on a rematch with Wilder.

Back to Parkinson for the 2020-2021 era when the fight was most anticipated:

December 2019: Joshua won back the WBA, IBF and WBO belts with a wide but cautious points win over Ruiz Jr. in Saudi Arabia.

February 2020: Fury produced a brilliant display to stop Wilder in Round 7 and become WBC champ -- but there is a rematch clause.

June 2020: Joshua and Fury, both at their peaks and with all the world titles between them, agreed to fight two times in 2021. The first fight -- reportedly worth £200 million - would be in the summer of 2021.

“We have agreed the basics of the deal, a two-fight deal,” Eddie Hearn, who promotes Joshua, told ESPN.

Venues and dates had yet to be agreed while both boxers also had defences of their titles to get through before their fight could become a reality.

December 2020: Joshua beat Kubrat Pulev to retain his IBF, WBO and WBA titles to set up the prospect of an undisputed title fight vs. Fury.

“It’s not about the opponent -- it’s about who has got the belt, and if that’s Tyson Fury, let it be Tyson Fury,” Joshua said after dispatching Pulev. “It’s one fight at a time, picking them off one by one.”

Meanwhile, the menacing figure of Oleksandr Usyk, who won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics like Joshua, now loomed large on the heavyweight scene. After ruling as undisputed cruiserweight champion, Usyk won a second fight at heavyweight in October 2024. But the focus is still on making Fury vs. Joshua.

January 2021: Hearn said a deal to fight Fury in 2021 is all but done, with a venue in the Middle East a front-runner to host it.

February 2021: A deal seems tantalisingly close and fight fans are getting excited.

“The fight is very close to being done now,” Frank Warren, Fury’s co-promoter, told ESPN. “It’s all COVID-19 related but I think it will go on sometime in June, latest July.

“It’s going to be a two-fight deal, and it depends what happens in the first fight and the agreement of all parties as to where and what happens after that.”

In March 2021, Eddie Hearn made comments on TalkSPORT about Fury vs. Joshua happening at Wembley Stadium.

We’ll let Joe Brophy of TalkSport tell the next part of the story:

The pair first signed contracts to meet in August 2021 for the undisputed WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO heavyweight world titles in Saudi Arabia.

But a court of arbitration ruled that Fury had to battle Deontay Wilder in a trilogy bout instead.

The Gypsy King KO’d Wilder but Joshua was forced to face his mandatory Oleksandr Usyk and was dethroned as a result.

In 2022, despite losing the rematch with the Ukrainian, AJ was invited back to the table for a December matchup with Fury.

The pair agreed financial terms, but talks collapsed at contract stages and Fury went onto beat Derek Chisora instead.

That’s where Turki Alalshikh and his bro bosses’ personal piggybank, Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, came into the picture.

Turki Alalshikh Couldn’t Book a Shotgun Wedding

Alalshikh whipped out the Crown Prince’s oil-and-blood-money-soaked checkbook and not only signed both Fury and Joshua but also signed ex-UFC champ Francis Ngannou, Ukrainian Heavyweight champ Oleksandr Usyk, and Deontay Wilder. So, Fury vs Joshua would have to wait.

Turki immediately booked Fury vs. Ngannou, and the Brit wound up on his ass in the third round before struggling to a ten-round decision win.

This was devastating for Fury’s image and credibility because the “former” UFC Heavyweight champion walked into a boxing ring and pummeled him to the mat. Fury never really recovered from this.

It also allowed Ngannou to get a second big payday against Anthony Joshua in a bout that would ruin Ngannou’s reputation.

Meanwhile, Turki’s dream fight for Joshua was against Wilder. Unfortunately, the dumbass fucked that all up by booking both men to headline a December 2023 card in Riyadh.

Stupidly, instead of just putting them together, he booked both guys in tune-up fights on a barely-watched card. Rookie promoter mistake that quickly bit Turki in the ass when Wilder lost to Joseph Parker in a fight literally no one was asking for.

2024-25: Usyk, Ngannou, Dubois and Jake Paul Get Between Fury and Joshua

Turki wasn’t deterred, though, and kept booking both fighters in bouts that did anything but build toward the dream fight.

Fury spent 2024 getting beaten twice by the great Oleksandr Usyk in two badly promoted and severely under-watched bouts.

Meanwhile, Joshua got his shot at Francis Ngannou and made it count with a second-round KO. That was fine and all, but the only point of booking freakshow fights featuring a literal amateur boxer like Ngannou who was 0-0 as a pro boxer before facing two of the best heavyweights of our era is to cash in big.

But since Turki is possibly the worst promoter of all-time, both bouts lost mountains of Saudi money.

A big part of the problem is the fights all happened in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — a city no one wants to visit, even before the region became a magnet for Iranian and Yemeni missiles and drones.

So the next move was to book Joshua in an IBF title fight against the far-less-well-known champ Daniel Dubois in London’s Wembley Stadium.

Unfortunately for Joshua, Turki, and the boxing business, Dubois beat the crap out of the much bigger star and knocked him out in five rounds. That did set up a Dubois-Usyk bout in mid-2025 that accounts for Dubois’ greatest moment of fame (he’s the red line above). Unfortunately for Dubois, Usyk wrecked him in five rounds.

But let’s get back to our main characters.

After losing to the guy who lost to the guy, Joshua’s career needed a reset, so Turki loaned him out to two guys who actually know how to promote fights: Jake Paul and Nakisa Badarian of MVP Promotions.

Let me prove my point:

The Jake Paul-Anthony Joshua fight was easily the least important, most one-sided, and stupidest bout either man has been in since 2022, and yet look at those numbers.

Yeah, people are stupid and all, but it takes smart promotion to sell wolf tickets on that scale. Smart promotion and a partnership with Netflix, the dominant streaming platform of our era (except for YouTube, but that’s a story for a different day).

This Netflix freak show fight of Paul vs. Joshua had a happy ending with huge viewership numbers, as big as the number Joshua did to Jake Paul’s jaw. He finally gave the hated influencer the beating people had been paying to see someone dish out to him since his boxing career began.

That’s when Turki started talking about making nearly forgotten dreams come true. At last, he was going to finally book Fury vs. Joshua.

Of course, since Turki Alalshikh is incapable of learning, he decided to agree to book both pugilists for tune-up fights first. Tyson Fury went to Thailand, and Anthony Joshua was in Jeddah. Both were in fights that appeared on paper to be squash matches.

Why did Turki Waste So Much Time?

It turns out that boxing is a really expensive endeavor. It also turns out that there really is a price being paid for the war between the United States and Iran. It doesn’t help when Aramco oil fields and ports are getting blasted by missiles and drones from Yemen’s Ansar Allah.

Did Turki’s piggy bank go empty? His attitude certainly has changed in the last couple of months. Now he’s suddenly concerned about the opinion of Netflix, on whom he is relying to help broadcast and finance Fury vs. Joshua.

Big change from his rumored ugly behavior to Netflix’ Chief Content Officer Bela Bajarian, which our own Blake Avignon reported in June 2025 caused a “breakdown that nearly cost the (Canelo-Crawford) event.”

We also reported on Turki publicly dissing TKO’s Dana White around that same time.

Now, the mighty Turki has come down to Earth. He’s no longer a Roc soaring over West Asia and casting a shadow over the entire boxing world. He’s more like a turkey looking to feather his nest with Netflix cash.

In 2026, what Netflix wants, Netflix gets.

Suddenly, the conversation about Fury vs. Joshua was about money. And location. Sure, Wembley Stadium sounds great, but can the fight happen at 4 AM local time?

Turki’s public comments incensed UK boxing fans and gave Eddie Hearn’s arch-nemesis, Simon Jordan, plenty of material to work with.

The well was being poisoned, and UK fans were being conditioned to accept the likelihood that the fight they always wanted to see would not happen at Wembley Stadium but instead would happen either in Las Vegas (which Dana White would like) or Madison Square Garden. Neither location would sell the sheer number of tickets that Wembley Stadium could for the long-awaited Fury-Joshua fight.

But conditions changed rather quickly.

Things Didn’t Go Well This Weekend

I should mention that Anthony Joshua was a passenger in a tragic car accident in Nigeria last December that killed two of his closest friends. The video of a crowd surrounding a very dazed Joshua was stunning, as he was transported to a hospital for injuries he suffered.

I should also mention that Tyson Fury also lost a (former) close associate earlier this year — that being promoter Daniel Kinahan, who was lost to the legal system following his arrest in the United Arab Emirates.

Both men put up brave fronts, Joshua speaking movingly of his deceased friends and Fury saying of his former promoter’s arrest:

“It’s none of my business … it’s got nowt to do with me.”

“I have never been sponsored by MTK ever,” he said. When reminded that he used to be part of the MTK stable and had worn their logo, he responded bluntly. “That was from 2017 until 2020. Three years and that was it. Done. End of.”

The point being, both fighters are aging rapidly and varying degrees of damaged goods. Both men also haunted by personal loss.

All of which are blinking red lights that would tell any competent boxing promoter:

BOOK THIS FIGHT NOW. DO NOT DICK AROUND WITH BULLSHIT BOUTS.

Unfortunately, Turki Alalshikh is not a competent promoter and instead approved Tyson Fury against an even older Mariusz Wach and put Anthony Joshua in the ring with Kristian Prenga.

How did it go? Here’s how it went:

The Independent summed up the carnage:

Tyson Fury won first in seven rounds on Friday night, the next night Anthony Joshua won in two rounds, but that does not tell the story of an extraordinary weekend of fights.

The pair have agreed to fight each other later this year in a massive and long overdue showdown. The harsh truth is that neither victory was impressive.

Fury looked sluggish and Joshua was dropped twice by Kristian Prenga in the opening round before recovering his senses to deliver a stunning knockout.

However, there is still no date, no venue and not even confirmation of a country for their long overdue fight. The original signed contracts from two months ago are close to being ripped up; the contracts are only valid if their fight takes place in Britain.

The pair have been linked since they both held versions of the world heavyweight title at the same time in the summer of 2016; it is one of boxing’s longest running sagas, a potentially great fight that is now moving ever closer to collapse.

Paul Magno said it better for The Boxing Tribune:

If you saw the first minute of Fury-Wach, there was no need to watch any of the rest (I deserve a sub just for saving you the time, by the way).

A half-assing jiggly-bellied Fury pecked from the outside against a lumbering jiggly-bellied Wach, occasionally making some actual contact in a dance of Humpty Dumpty bookends. The former WBC heavyweight champ would occasionally toss a flurry into the mix, or some “classic” Tyson Fury scripted but totally unscripted ring shenanigans—a little dance, a little hand gesture, a blown kiss—for the sake of his reality show film crew trying to find something the least bit entertaining to put in a big fight segment.
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For about four minutes, I actually became a Kristian Prenga fan. Not because I necessarily dislike Anthony Joshua or even care about Prenga all that much. I’m just a miserable fuck, I guess, who likes watching best-laid cynical plans fall to pieces.

And that almost happened in the opening round of Joshua-Prenga in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Saturday afternoon when the massive underdog dropped Joshua twice and nearly put the kibosh on the Saudi-fueled Netflix clash between Joshua and Tyson Fury.

Alas, my elation ended right at the beginning of the second round when it became clear that the script was not going to be flipped.

The Albanian came out for the second round and didn’t press the attack on an AJ who was sporting the goofy “this ain’t no big thing” grin he has whenever he’s getting whooped and it’s definitely a “big thing.” Joshua’s knockout of Prenga later that same round generated a wave of “fix” cries from fans who couldn’t fathom why the extreme longshot pug didn’t jump right back on offense to put the favorite away.

Oof. That ain’t good. The sheer look of concern and shock on the faces of those in the front row in Jeddah was a true “only in boxing” moment. After R1, everything looked dead. After R2, Anthony Joshua saved everyone’s plans — barely.

Are fans more excited or less excited to see Fury vs. Joshua after what transpired this past weekend? On the one hand, both guys are washed up. On the other hand, this could really end up being an exciting bum fight. One guy looks like a billion dollars and the other is Tyson Fury. It appears that neither man has their equilibrium left in the ring.

If Turki Alalshikh is the key man in charge of promoting this fight, it will end up on a promotional road to nowhere.

If Nick Khan and Lawrence Epstein take the lead and partner with nemesis Eddie Hearn, Fury-Joshua could still have some juice.

It will be up to external forces — mainly at DAZN and in West Asia — that will determine what Turki’s future role in boxing is moving forward. Because if Turki’s role is that of a mascot in the crowd as we’ve seen the last couple of weeks in New York at Fanatics Fest and for Zuffa Boxing 09 last night at Madison Square Garden, then SELA and the grown-ups in charge may finally come in to save the day. Even if it’s many years too late.

Nate Wilcox is the Editor-in-Chief of The MMA Draw. He founded Bloody Elbow in 2007 and sold it in 2024.