With the undercard of the upcoming Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford card yet to be unveiled, the delay appears to be due to a new potentially historical feature that The Ring owner Turki Alalshikh is planning on introducing; an undercard that will stretch over several days.
The upcoming September 13th Las Vegas card that will be headlined by Canelo Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KO’s) and Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KO’s) will be featuring something unseen in boxing; an undercard that will take place over the two or three days preceding the main event.
According to The Ring owner and Riyadh Season head Turki Alalshikh ― though neither of the two companies will be promoting/sponsoring the upcoming card, the Alvarez-Crawford undercard is looking to give out opportunities to unknown talents hence the multi-day event:
“The undercard, it will be [held] between two to three days,” Alalshikh told The Ring.
“We have now reached more than twenty fights to [put] on the undercard, and 95% of this card is talent, and people around the world that have a very big chance of being a star in the future.“
Though there will be more prominent fighters to be featured on the card, with deals involving the likes of Christian M’billi and Lester Martinez ― and a potential bout between American heavyweights (200+ lbs) Jarrell Miller and Jared Anderson ― set to be finalized in the upcoming weeks, Alalshikh will be looking to stage talent across the globe for the upcoming event.
In another interview, Alalshikh emphasized the importance of the Alvarez-Crawford event which would be used to put unknown but talented fighters on the map on its multi-day undercard:
“With my friends and my people in The Ring, we will start a [new] show,” Alalshikh told ThaBoxingVoice. “We’ll name it ‘The underdog in Vegas’. There will be one each month.
“The card will be all about the talent and discovering fighters, and when they succeed they can go to the league with TKO or fight in a Riyadh Season card. We want all the fighters around the world to have a chance to be star.”
Likely in coordination with the TKO Boxing venture Alalshikh recently created with UFC CEO Dana White, the fighters are set to undergo trials of sorts through arranged sparring sessions ― potentially to be held at a UFC Performance Center:
“And when we do the the sparring in New York, we got two-thousand people. We got around two-hundred fighters,” said Alalshikh.
“Some of them come from Japan and Scotland. I announced they will they will be on the undercard of Canelo-Crawford. And imagine; two of them now on the undercard for Canelo-Crawford ― from the streets to the biggest fight in one step, on the undercard of the biggest card in the last ten years.“
