Turki Unfollows Everyone: The Great Boxing Purge of 2024

Imagine this writer’s dismay and befuddled consternation when, upon returning from an off-the-grid camping trip, he discovered that Saudi Arabian point man for boxing’s takeover Turki Alalshikh was no longer following him on Twitter/X.

“Control your breathing, Paul,” I thought to myself. “This has to be some sort of mistake.”

I then hurriedly, frantically re-checked Turki’s Twitter profile, only to have a bone-chilling Twilight Zone moment– He had unfollowed EVERYONE.

My. God.

When the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority first got seriously into the boxing business in 2023, he went out of his way to follow all voices of note in the sport, especially media personalities– myself included.

Now, he’s cut off the outside world by not being their Twitter friends anymore.

There are two possible reasons for that:

1) His gloriously genius Excellency as learned all, from all sources, and is now the foremost authority on all things boxing, no longer needing any input from anyone.

or

2) Turki is a big baby who just can’t take the fact that some of the input coming back to him is negative or, in my case, the equivalent of a depantsing in gym class, like this article at FightHype.com.

Personally, I lean towards choice no. 2. And I don’t necessarily hold that against Turki.

Someone born and bred under a freedom-strangling monarchy, who calls Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud “My Master,” will never fully embrace the concept of dissent. It’s probably barely stomachable to him for “lesser” people (those not empowered for authority by his Master) to even be questioning his wisdom.

He is, after all, The Most Influential Boxing Figure– and he has the t-shirt to prove it:

But, fortunately, we all don’t live in the same Saudi world where state-sponsored beheading is still a thing and where people are serving life sentences for tweeting marginally negative things about the royal family.

A Peep Under Turki’s Keffiyeh

In all seriousness, though, this Twitter mass-unfollowing is just another glimpse into the character of a man who has shown himself to be more about becoming King of Boxing than a deal-maker able to bring companies and fighters together in a way resembling a true free market industry.

There’ve also been momentary slip-ups potentially revealing his true character here and there.

For instance, there was an ominous quote from the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani earlier this year, referring to an IBF super middleweight mandatory defense potentially standing in the way of the Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford bout he felt destined to put together.

“I hope nobody stands in our way…because, in the end, if we want it, we will do it,” he said, looking like a Bond villain.

Turki, in this writer’s estimation, is more the guy who allegedly strong-armed his way into the good graces of Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud during the 2017 Saudi coup than the hardcore boxing lover who just wants to do right by the fans. He’s more the guy who pals around with the men accused by the Feds of orchestrating the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi than a man feeling a “brotherhood” with the fighters.

Money Creates A Boxing Illusion

Don’t let the money thrown around fool you. The filthy lucre has made for some big deals and unlikely unions. It even got Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren holding hands. A good chunk of the boxing media has also been bought off or is hoping to be bought off via the long-rumored Saudi boxing news site Turki is putting together. But it would be a mistake to consider these superficial friendships and quick deals as long-term sustainable, unless the Saudis plan on losing money indefinitely with their boxing efforts (and, yeah, they’ve lost money on every boxing show they’ve sponsored so far).

There are legitimate concerns over whether overpaying (sometimes flat-out giving away broadcast rights) and simultaneously promising to undercut pricing is merely part of an effort to seize control of the market and/or pilfer whatever talent possible to stage as many big-ticket events as possible in Saudi Arabia. Lord knows, boxing is greedy enough, short-sighted enough, and generally disorganized enough to be hustled into a damning monopoly.

In more metaphorically colloquial non-boxing terms, Saudi Arabia is the dirty old man looking to steal a young, vulnerable girl away from a chaotic, neglectful family. Lots of sweet talk and gifts and then the girl gets won over, only to find herself in just as bad a position– if not worse– than before.

Turki a la King?

Alalshikh is the point man for all of this. By all appearances, he’s a man willing to make a deal and strike a friendly partnership– if you are properly deferential to him and his terms. However, he’s always just one disagreeable utterance away from turning on you and dismissively writing you off completely, like he’s done with fighters who would not initially rush to make a deal with him, such as Saul Alvarez, Tim Tszyu, and Gervonta Davis.

And now he’s written off the rest of us. If reports are true, he’s even thinking of letting a boxing heathen like the UFC’s Dana White help put together his dream boxing league. Boxing, you’ve hurt Turki (insert sad face emoji).

The lesson to be learned by boxing’s greedy, short-sighted, generally disorganized business people, after Saudi Arabia gives up on the unruly world of boxing and settles on the easier to control bare-knuckle boxing and the occasional UFC and WWE event? Handle your own business, do things right, and don’t jump at every despot or cartel leader waving a dollar bill at you like a horny gringo at a Tijuana strip club.

All of the “Turki did it…he’s saving boxing” stuff of the last two years or so could’ve easily been handled by actual boxing people with actual interest in the sport’s future.