Saudis want Christian Mbilli on Alvarez-Crawford's Las Vegas program

Saudi promoter Turki Alalshikh has revealed in a statement the names of the nine boxers he wants to offer a fight in the WBA-WBC-WBO-IBF super middleweight world championship between Mexican Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and American Terence Crawford, on September 13 in Las Vegas. First up is Japanese Junto Nakatani, WBC-IBF bantamweight champion, followed by French super middleweight Christian Mbilli. The other seven are, in order, Saudi lightweight Mohammed Alakel, Japanese featherweight Reito Tsutsumi, American super featherweight Justin Viloria, American super bantamweight Emiliano Alvarado, American light heavyweight Jamar Talley, American lightweight Abdullah Mason, and Indian super welterweight Nishant Dev.

"The whole world will be watching the fight of the century between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford on Netflix," Alalshikh said . "And to do that, I want to feature fights from young, motivated boxers who deserve to be in the spotlight. Here are some of the names I hope to see fight in Las Vegas. If you're interested, you and your teams know where to find me."

"From now on, I don't want to see any more Tom and Jerry fights where one boxer runs around the ring while the other chases him."

As chairman of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority, Alalshikh aims to present the biggest fights. Last year, his two heavyweight championships, which saw Ukrainian Alexander Usyk defeat Englishman Tyson Fury, were a success. But recently, he presented two very poor fights: American super-lightweight Devin Haney defeated his compatriot Jose Ramirez on May 2 in New York and the following day in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with Alvarez retaining his belts against Cuban William Scull. Haney, although victorious, and especially Scull literally ran away from the fight, rendering it completely insipid.

"From now on, I don't want to see any more Tom and Jerry-style fights where one fighter runs around the ring while the other chases him," Alalshikh wrote in a statement posted on his social media. "We can no longer support these kinds of fights with Riyadh Season (the Saudi company he organizes with) and The Ring (the American monthly magazine he bought). We want to support boxers who give their all in the ring and fight with heart and pride."

A quarter-finalist in the -75 kg category at the 2016 Olympic Games, who turned pro in Canada, Mbilli (30 years old, 1.74m, 28 wins, including 23 before the limit, 0 losses) is very offensive, very spectacular. The WBC number 1 challenger in the super-middleweight category (-76.203 kg), he dreams of facing Alvarez, but the Mexican carefully avoids him.

To keep him going, the World Federation has decided to pit the Frenchman against Poland's Maciej Sulecki for the interim WBC title on June 27 in Quebec City. And if all goes well that evening, if the fight isn't too taxing, if Mbilli isn't injured, nothing will stop him from accepting the invitation to return to the ring on September 13 in Las Vegas, a meeting organized by Alalshikh with American Dana White, president of the UFC.

"We have an important matter to settle on June 27 against Sulecki," replied Canadian Camille Estephan, Mbilli's promoter. "We must not underestimate Sulecki. In any case, I'm very happy to see that boxers who put on a show will be part of the big night in Las Vegas. Christian is looking forward to it. We need real fighters, not runners."

If Mbilli dominates in the Sulecki way and shines again in Alvarez's program (favorite to beat Crawford), it is very likely that, for his next defense, the Mexican, under contract with Alalshikh, will be forced to face the Frenchman...