Turki on Canelo: "It's Not Me Who's Afraid to Fight Benavidez or Crawford"

It was recently revealed that Turki Alalshikh, head of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia, is no longer interested in a fight between WBA, WBC, and WBO super middleweight champion (up to 76.2 kg) Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) and four-division champion Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs). Turki has already found a replacement for Canelo.

Alvarez explained that he is focused on his upcoming fight with Edgar Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs), set for September 14 in Las Vegas, USA.

"I am not asking for this fight. I think Teofimo Lopez deserves it more than I do. My response to Turki is this: yesterday, they wrote to me to discuss a fight with Crawford in February, and I said, 'I will not talk about any other fight, I am 100% focused on my fight with Edgar Berlanga.' I respect Turki, but if he wants to work with me, it has to be on my terms," Canelo said.

Turki Alalshikh's response was swift:

"I heard Canelo said he respects me but doesn't like the way we do business. Regarding his respect for me, I don't care if he respects me or not. As for how I do business, I know why he doesn't like it, because I aim for big fights at fair prices, so of course, anyone who loves easy fights won't like it.

And I know how he feels after losing to Bivol, so since then he has been looking for easy fights. It's not me who's afraid to fight Benavidez or Crawford.

I knew he was wasting our time and coming up with excuses with large sums of money that can't be paid. So I continue my path, making big fights that serve the world of boxing, and he goes his way, organizing easy exhibition fights," Turki wrote on Twitter.