sand dunes
Another week, another superstar linked with a big debut in Saudi Arabia. This time, on Wednesday, Turki Alalshikh tweeted a photo of Terence Crawford with a shrug emoji. In the past, a Tweet like that would have seemed harmless, but today, it would send the entire app into a tailspin. This is one of those days.
Things got even more tense when Crawford responded with a trio of emojis where the little yellow guy was holding one of his little yellow fingers to his lips, and by the end of the day, Crawford was given is related to the battles in the Kingdom with people like Josh. Kelly and Israil Madrimov. This weekend, another name will also join the conversation.
Meanwhile, Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia's week is in full swing (pun intended), but not in baseball. The couple got together at the Empire State Building that afternoon and things got a little messy. As a result, when the pair arrived at Citi Field for the New York Mets to play the Pittsburgh Pirates, they were told they would not throw out the ceremonial first pitch because officials were worried about an altercation. another stroke.
However, he then added: “Let's wait and see. Don't be surprised when this match takes place in September.” We live in hope.
Cruel choice
Staying in New York, there was a lot to hate about Thursday's final press conference when Garcia interacted with someone in the crowd, including some unnecessarily lewd responses. But even those weren't the worst quotes in the build-up, as Bill Haney, Devin's father and coach, claimed that his son would kill Ryan Garcia.
“I will send my son to kill him,” said Haney Snr. “I don't care what anyone says, if you don't want to watch it and don't want to watch it, don't watch it. It was suicide for him to sign up [for this fight] and it will be a murder on April 20th for all the disrespect. That's what my son would do. That would be devastating.”
To be clear, those words came from the father of one of the warriors; a grown man should know better.
Of all the bad things spewed during this entire promotion, that might be the worst in a highly competitive field.
Due to the tension throughout the week and the overall nature of the press conference, it was also decided that there would be no confrontation at the event, although the pair would meet the following day at the test weight.
The weight is gone
Despite his insistence during open workouts during the week that he was gaining weight, Ryan Garcia still clocked in at a whopping 143¼bs, well above his contractual 140lbs. He insisted he tried his best to push the limit, after appearing to down a bottle of beer, and responded angrily to the crowd when they booed him for his dramatic weight loss. Due to the terms of their contract, Garcia was then forced to pay $500,000 per missed pound, giving Haney an even higher payout for their huge purse bout.
There was also time for Bill Haney, who had just made his “killing” comment, to clash with Bernard Hopkins as the two fighters posed for their final confrontation.
Back to Crawford's story, Thursday also brought with it a photo of another top welterweight, Jaron Ennis, posing with Turki Alalshikh. Elsewhere, in an interview with DAZN, Ennis's promoter Eddie Hearn revealed that 'Boots' told him he could finish his career at light-heavyweight after winning world titles in five different weight classes.
Jaron Ennis
Ryan's world
FIRST on Saturday, there was a big announcement on the show as it was confirmed that Gervonta Davis would return to the ring in an extended match against Frank Martin. The pair will clash on June 15 in Las Vegas during the PBC event on Amazon Prime.
Of course, Saturday's main story was Garcia vs. Haney, which actually happened despite the promotion's unbelievable antics. The strange thing that happened during the fight was that Garcia hired a string quartet to sit in his dressing room and play classical music for him when he was ready. Definitely a first.
By the time he actually stepped into the ring, it was a symphony of his signature left hooks, paving the way for a shocking majority decision victory that included Haney being knocked out fell three times. It's an instant classic.
Also featured is one of the craziest sets of scorecards in a long time following the Sean McComb vs. Arnold Barboza fight. Judge Benoit Roussel scored it 98-92 for McComb, while Tom Schreck (96-94) and Don Trella (97-93) both scored it in favor of Barboza.
Business is difficult
Garcia just did business at Barclays shortly after he returned to social media and made noise about his next fight. And, since he lost so much weight, it seems like he has no intention of trying to gain back 140 pounds.
Instead, one of the men he targeted on Sabbath was welterweight Conor Benn, and the pair got into a bit of a back-and-forth.
All Benn did was Tweet “great performance by Garcia,” and that was enough to get the fight between the two going.
“Let's hold it in London at the O2,” Garcia replied. “I will break your SPLEIN and then eat it,” he added, showing ignorance about the number of bones in the spleen. “Shout out London.”
There was also some fallout from Sunday's Barboza-McComb controversy.
Promoter Lou DiBella tweeted: “There are bad decisions and there are BAD DECISIONS. Barboza winning that fight was CRIMINAL. ARE NOT. DIE. ROAD.”
McComb's manager Lee Eaton later confirmed: “A formal appeal/complaint has been filed.”
Wish list set for reality?
AFTER his Tweet on Wednesday, Saudi General Entertainment Authority Chairman Turki Alalshikh was more progressive on Monday when he hosted Ask Me Anything on Reddit, where he confirmed some of the plans. planning the next phase of his boxing revolution.
One of his responses confirms his desire to fight Crawford against Ennis – however, that particular fight is not in the top three fights he hopes to make. It's Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua (me too), Canelo Alvarez vs Crawford and David Benavidez vs the winner of Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol in Saudi on June 1.
There was a time when such a list was essentially meaningless, because wars of such magnitude were usually doomed to failure, but now is not that time. There's a good chance Turki will get his wish with all three within the next 12 months.
In Tokyo, it was confirmed that No. 1 superfly Kazuto Ioka will face No. 2 Fernando Martinez in an exciting match on July 7.
A sequel has been confirmed
AFTER months of negotiations, it was finally confirmed on Tuesday that British cruiserweight duo Chris Billam-Smith and Richard Riakporhe will fight in their long-awaited rematch on June 15.
A compliment to Billam-Smith, the reigning champion, who has agreed to come to Selhurst Park, home of Crystal Palace, Riakporhe's manor house in South London. CBS won the IBF title in his hometown of Bournemouth, but will happily head to the capital for a chance at revenge – and so will his army of supporters.
Unbeaten Riakporhe won their first clash in July 2019 via split decision at The O2 and has not made a mistake since. Meanwhile, Billam-Smith pulled off one of the biggest shocks of 2023 when he defeated Lawrence Okolie.
“I will beat you senseless on June 15,” Riakporhe said. “Your time is running out. The midnight train will prevail.”
Billam-Smith playfully replied: “Did you say derailment?” Fight night is more than seven weeks away. Great fight.
