Turki Alalshikh has confirmed his future plans for Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury.
Alalshikh also teased Daniel Dubois’ next opponent when talking about boxing’s heavyweight greats.
Fury and Usyk met in a second instalment of their epic heavyweight rivalry in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday night.
The Briton fought valiantly against Usyk in their rematch—six months on from their first bout—but it wasn’t enough to exact revenge as the Ukrainian retained his belts thanks to a unanimous decision victory.
One man who had front row seats for the blockbuster encounter was Saudi boxing chief Alalshikh, who has been praised in the aftermath of the fight for putting on the spectacular event.
Speaking to The Stomping Ground after Usyk’s second victory over Fury, he confirmed his plans for those at the heavyweight division’s summit.
“I think he [Usyk] won, I counted and he had four rounds more,” Alalshikh said.
“Tyson did everything, he had an amazing fight but this is boxing: there is a winner and a loser.
“Next, if Dubois wins in February, I want to see Usyk and Dubois again.
“And I want to see Tyson, maybe with [Anthony] Joshua or something, we will decide.
“Let’s see what can happen, everything in Riyadh Season is realistic…The most important thing is the fans enjoy it.”
Fury is now at crucial point in his career as he only has so many years left at the top of boxing as a 36-year-old.
3
The only two losses in his career are to Usyk, who has beaten him twice on points now, so there will be questions surrounding whether Fury is happy to move on and fight someone like Anthony Joshua.
The two British heavyweight giants have never met in the ring but the bout has been one of the most talked about in boxing for years.
Or Fury could wait for Usyk to fully recover and see if he will give him an option of a now-unlikely trilogy bout, in the same manner the Mancunian offered Deontay Wilder a third fight after drawing with and beating him.
As for Usyk, he has already made it pretty clear what he wants to do with his future for now.
“Now I want to go back home,” he said in his post-fight press conference.
“Off my phone, close in my house, sit like this (arms stretched) and then look in the sky and say: ‘Ya. Oh how the tree is growing!’
3
“Now I want to rest. Not think about boxing, Dubois, Tyson Fury, blah. Just rest. Play with my children.”
Dubois, who defends his world heavyweight title against former champion Joseph Parker in February, crashed Usyk’s in-ring interview.
“Usyk, I want my revenge,” he said, after grabbing the mic.
“I want my revenge Usyk, well done on tonight. I want my revenge for the robbery last time. Let’s go, where’s Frank [Warren]? Make it happen.”
Usyk, who had just put in a gruelling shift and looked tired, responded by asking Alalshikh to ‘make the fight’.
27-year-old Dubois spectacularly defended his IBF belt for the first time by beating Joshua in September at Wembley.
New Zealand’s Parker, 32, held the WBO title eight years ago before losing it to Joshua.
Usyk and Dubois shared the ring back in August 2023, and the latter has been eyeing a rematch ever since.
Dubois floored Usyk in the fifth round in Poland but the shot was deemed a low blow and Usyk was given nearly four minutes to recover.
The Ukrainian then knocked Dubois out in the ninth round, with the Brit claiming he should’ve been ‘a world champion right now’ after the fight.
Fury has also spoken about his future too, saying in the post-fight press conference that any decision will come in 2025 after spending time with his family at home.