Alalshikh no longer interested in Canelo for Crawford superfight

A Terence Crawford-Canelo Álvarez superfight doesn't appear to be in the cards, as Riyadh Season Boxing head Turki Alalshikh indicated Tuesday that he's no longer pursuing a bout featuring the Mexican icon.

"Just wrapped up an important meeting now with my team, planning for the upcoming fights that we will make for 2024-2025. I decided to disregard the Canelo fight, as I don't want it anymore," Alalshikh posted on X. "Instead, I will be focusing for the U.S. market with bigger fights, especially for the legend Crawford."

Alalshikh said last week that he made Álvarez, the current undisputed super middleweight titleholder, an offer that he would be "smart" to accept, according to DAZN's Alexander Netherton.

Crawford, who joined Álvarez in the four-division champion club by beating Israil Madrimov at 154 pounds on Saturday, expressed a willingness to fight Álvarez last month. Buzz about a potential superfight grew even louder after Riyadh Season's inaugural U.S. card, which featured Crawford-Madrimov as the headlining bout.

Any Crawford-Canelo bout would likely happen at super middleweight, the class Álvarez has generally fought at in recent years. The Madrimov fight was Crawford's first at junior middleweight.

Álvarez is next scheduled to fight on Sept. 14 against Edgar Berlanga in Las Vegas. Crawford, meanwhile, has been connected to a return to welterweight against IBF titleholder Jaron "Boots" Ennis. Crawford still holds the WBO and WBA titles at 147 pounds in addition to his new junior middleweight belt.

Instead of Álvarez, Alalshikh indicated he plans to pursue the likes of Ennis, Devin Haney, and Shakur Stevenson, among others, for Riyadh Season. Some of his upcoming cards in 2024 include the Anthony Joshua-Daniel Dubois and Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk heavyweight title fights and Dmitry Bivol-Artur Beterbiev at light heavyweight.