As the Boxing World Turns: Fans relish soap opera as Turki Alalshikh, Canelo Alvarez, Terence Crawford and Eddie Hearn lock horns

Only days after the show at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles headlined by Terence Crawford squeaking past Israil Madrimov in what was billed as perhaps the greatest boxing card ever -- It wasn't the greatest, to be clear, either on paper or in performance -- the big fights began. These real fights, the ones with the real action and drama and the potential for significant impact in the boxing business.

The issues are the same ones which have plagued boxing for decades: Who should fight who, how much a particular fight is worth, and controversies surrounding boxing. The only reason they're getting even more attention than usual is who is involved.

The 'combatants' are Crawford, who won the WBA and interim WBO super welterweight titles on Saturday and who is No. 2 on the KevinIole.com pound-for-pound list; Alvarez, who fights Edgar Berlanga on Sept. 14 and who is No. 6 on the P4P list; Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority and the man responsible for the game-changing influx of Saudi money into the sport; and promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom.

Alalshikh has become increasingly visible, and vocal, in recent weeks. He's been campaigning hard to get Alvarez to fight Crawford, a bout that seemed to make a lot of sense last July after Crawford pulverized Errol Spence Jr. but makes a lot less sense now after Madrimov's size seemed to give Crawford issues on Saturday.

On Saturday's DAZN broadcast, Ade Oladipo interviewed Alalshikh and asked if he planned to make Crawford versus Alvarez if Crawford won later in the evening, which he did by scores of 115-113 twice and 116-112.

Alalshikh answered affirmatively, but he seemed to know something.

"As I tell before to ESPN, I give [Alvarez] the offer [to fight Crawford]," Alalshikh said. "If he's smart, he will accept it."

He then added a sentence that was telling in light of future events.

"If he doesn't, I want [Vergil] Ortiz [to fight Crawford]," he said.

Alalshikh had essentially been batting 1.000 before calling for Alvarez-Crawford. Every fight he said he wanted to make seemingly got made, and promptly. As a result, we saw Tyson Fury versus Oleksandr Usyk, Anthony Joshua against Francis Ngannou, Joseph Parker against Zhilei Zhang, Parker against Deontay Wilder and Wilder versus Zhang. He also got a massive light heavyweight bout between unified champion Artur Beterbiev and WBA champion Dmitry Bivol made, though Beterbiev was injured and the fight was pushed back to September.

Alvarez, though, was never keen on fighting Crawford. Asked last year about it after he defeated Jermell Charlo, he deflected questions. He later said he didn't understand what he'd get out of it by fighting a man so much smaller.

Alalshikh is a rich and powerful man, and like many rich and powerful men, he's used to getting his way. But Alvarez is also a rich and powerful man and he has his own way of doing things. After he forced a bitter split with Golden Boy Promotions because of his dislike of promoter Oscar De La Hoya, Alvarez hasn't used a promoter. He's closely associated with Hearn, but he jumps around to take what he sees are the most advantageous fights.

There has been a lot of pressure on him to fight David Benavidez, a bout that would be one of the few pay-per-view bouts which could be made that might get close to or even reach 1 million sales. He's adamantly refused that, and after agreeing to fight the lightly regarded Berlanga, wasn't about to be forced into facing Crawford.

At a news conference on Monday, Alvarez was asked about Alalshikh's interest in making him fight Crawford. Unlike many of his peers, Alvarez wasn't deferential and didn't immediately look to kiss the ring. He made it clear he's doing things his way.

“I don’t like the way [Alalshikh] talks and I’m not in this position because of [him]," Alvarez said. "If he wants to work with me, it’s got to be my way, not his way. I don’t need it. It’s not the way to approach [me]. I respect everybody and I respect Turki, but if he wants to work with me, it needs to be my way.”

Alalshikh, naturally, didn't take that lying down.

Ouch.

Saying a fighter is afraid of another is one of the greatest insults which one can deliver. While I vehemently disagree with Alvarez's decision to fight Berlanga, I don't think he's afraid of either Benavidez or Crawford. He's making what he thinks is the best decision for himself, and whether one agrees with it or not, it's wrong of Alalshikh or anyone other than the fighters involved to say he's afraid.

Though Crawford looked like he'd hit his limit at 154 pounds against Madrimov, he still wants the Alvarez fight because he knows the extraordinary payday it'll bring. I've changed my tune and think Benavidez, not Crawford, is the best opponent out there for Alvarez, I also believe Crawford is a vastly better opponent than Berlanga both in terms of selling and in terms of making a competitive fight.

Crawford appeared on Shawn Porter's podcast, "The Porter Way," and had harsh words for Alvarez.

“He has all these excuses why he doesn't want to fight me," Crawford said. "He said I'm easy work. If I was easy work, then you would take all that money. But still he wants $150 million to fight me. That just lets me know I'm a threat to him. I'm a threat to him and I'm a threat to his legacy.”

Crawford also wasn't happy with Hearn, who on Saturday was irate at what he felt was scoring that was too wide in favor of Crawford. Hearn initially incorrectly believed the scores were 116-112 twice and 115-113 when he was interviewed by Chris Mannix in the ring on DAZN after the fight. But he stuck to his guns later, though it should be noted he was representing Madrimov on Saturday.

Alvarez wasn't thrilled with Hearn for mentioning him so much in the build-up to Crawford-Madrimov, and when he saw him at the Berlanga press conference, he said something. Hearn told Alvarez he had to use his name to sell Crawford-Madrimov. That, of course, didn't go over well with Crawford.

"I thought it was disrespectful for Eddie Hearn to lie and say, 'We had to use your name to promote the fight,' " Crawford told Porter. "We didn't use Canelo's name to promote shit. [Hearn] is trying to stay friends with [Alvarez], but it's disrespectful to me. Any time they gave me any question about Canelo, I shut it down. So for him to say we had to use his name to sell the fight is disrespect."