BOXING
Boxing

Jai Opetaia: The opponent who could thwart rematch of Canelo Alvarez vs Bivol with the of Sheikh Turki Alalshikh

The Mexican has stated that he would like to face the Russian again

Jai Opetaia
Jai OpetaiaLAPRESSE

Canelo Alvarez is preparing his agenda for 2025, but it is no secret that he has some pending goals for the future.

One of them is to be able to face Dmitry Bivol again, the last opponent to defeat him in 2022 by unanimous decision of 115-113 on the scorecards.

Canelo Alvarez 'meets' again with Turki Alalshikh

According to Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn, all roads to Bivol lead to Saul Alvarez (62-2-2, 39KOs) and a rematch in 2025 would be possible.

However, this possibility could be hindered by money from Sheikh Turki Alalshikh, one of the Mexican fighter's recent critics.

The Arab promoter wants to match Canelo against Terence Crawford (41-0, 31KOs), but the Guadalajara fighter is not interested, although he said he might consider it with an offer of $150 million.

But if he fails to convince Alvarez, Alalshikh could be an obstacle to the Alvarez vs Bivol rematch and interpose a fighter.

Turki Alalshikh has Bivol vs Jai Opetaia in mind

One of the fights the sheikh has in mind is that of Bivol, champion at 175 pounds, against the Australian Jai Opetaia, IBF Cruiserweight (200 pounds) monarch.

Opetaia (25-0, 19KOs) has his next fight on October 12 against Jack Massey at the Kingdom Arena in Saudi Arabia, in what will be his third straight fight in the sheikh's country.

Meanwhile, Dmitry Bivol (23-0, 12KOs), who will fight Artur Beterbiev for the light heavyweight world unification (175lbs), is also going for his third fight in a row in Riyadh.

While Turki Alalshikh may not be able to convince Canelo Alvarez to face Terence Crawford, he may be able to get in the way of his desire to face Bivol for a second time.

BoxingCanelo Alvarez reveals his peculiar way of learning English
BoxingFloyd Mayweather shows off his new 700 hp Mercedes and his beastly wad of cash
BoxingTerence Crawford hits out at airline after series of disastrous events