Eddie Hearn sees no end date for partnership with Turki Alalshikh as doubts emerge for TKO’s business dealings

If you’ve been reading the tea leaves closely in the business of boxing and waiting for the inevitable date when Saudi Arabia and powerful adviser Turki Alalshikh cut ties with the established power promoters to begin a much-publicized takeover with Dana White and TKO Group, there’s an increasing feeling that date isn’t likely to ever come. 

That’s the opinion, at least, of Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn and it comes during an intriguing time when the future partnership of Saudi Arabia and TKO (which owns WWE and UFC) has never been more in question after Alalshikh moved the date of the kickoff superfight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford to Sept. 13, placing it head-to-head on the same night as a UFC Noche pay-per-view card. 

Although the details regarding whether TKO will still do business with Alalshikh moving forward remain cryptic and minimal, Hearn shared not only his doubts regarding White’s potential success in boxing, he also said he has no plans to stop partnering with Alalshikh on any future Riyadh Season or “Ring” magazine branded events. 

“I don’t expect our relationship with Turki Alalshikh to change at all, really,” Hearn told CBS Sports on Friday. “But, if it does, it does. It’s really down to your ability and the talent that you represent. That’s the key. When [Alalshikh] wants great fighters and big names and you’ve got them, whether he likes you or not, he’s going to get a deal done. We have a great relationship and I enjoy working with him. He has been a great asset for the sport.”

Ever since the March 5 announcement of a forthcoming boxing league financed by Saudi Arabia and operated from a matchmaking, promotion and production standpoint by TKO (with White and WWE president Nick Khan at the controls), Hearn hasn’t minced words regarding where his promotion sits within all of it.

The 45-year-old son of Matchroom Sport founder Barry Hearn boldly declared himself to be the best active promoter in the sport. He also never panicked by cutting ties from his current working relationship with Alalshikh despite making sure to publicly declare his lack of dependence upon all things Saudi Arabia. 

“Our business exists very successfully and powerfully without Turki Alalshikh, regardless of what happens,” Hearn said. “But, we love working with him because financially it has been very good for us [and] it has brought tremendous opportunities for our sport and for our fighters.

“There seems to be many different elements of [Alalshikh’s] involvement: TKO and the league, Ring magazine events and Riyadh Season events. I think while you have the stable and the talent that he needs, I think everyone is going to be working with Riyadh Season and Ring magazine events [moving forward].”

TKO was expected to launch its ambitious boxing takeover by promoting the Alvarez-Crawford fight, presumably on Netflix, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Alalshikh event went as far as confirming each aspect of the partnership (save for the Netflix involvement) on May 3 when, moments after Alvarez defeated William Scull in a PPV snoozefest in Riyadh, he staged a faceoff between Alvarez and Crawford. 

Six days later, however, White was publicly dismissive about staging such an event inside a stadium, which he has long been on record saying he despises. Netflix also failed to mention anything related to Alvarez-Crawford during its 2025 Upfront ceremony last weekend in New York, which announced (among other things) its live sports schedule into 2026.

While it remains unknown whether White’s comments drew the ire of Alalshikh, it wasn’t long before the chairman of the Saudi Arabian general entertainment fund cryptically announced on social media that the date, venue and even the promoter of the event had suddenly changed.

The fallout has seen many publicly question whether Alalshikh and TKO have undergone a divorce before their partnership has even launched. It has also further fueled the pre-existing opinion of many within boxing, including Hearn, that TKO was already entering an uphill battle in its attempt to fully monopolize the sport in the same way it has with UFC and WWE in their respective combat genres, especially after leaked contracts outlined TKO’s perceived payment structure. 

“Is [Matchroom Boxing] going to be involved in the [TKO] league? I doubt it. That’s not the concept they have in mind,” Hearn said. “But I’m also aware of the fighters the league are recruiting and I think it’s going to be very different to people’s immediate perception of how this is going to look. I don’t think this is going to be the big names and Dana paying significant, overrated purses to get these guys because then there is going to be a war between UFC talent and boxers. 

“In boxing, which is quite bizarre, the revenue around UFC events is more than the revenue around boxing events yet the [boxers] are paid 3-to-4 times more than the UFC guys. At some point, the UFC talent is going to look at it and go, ‘Alright Dana, you are now paying these fighters $3 or $4 million dollars for some defense of their world title and we are getting half a million to have a war in a sold-out arena with massive pay-per-view numbers.’ So, it’s going to be very interesting.”

Matchroom Boxing has continued to work with various promoters and networks of late, in search of making the biggest events possible. The best indication of that intention from Hearn might be the second weekend in July when Matchroom will co-promote the Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano trilogy on Netflix at New York’s Madison Square Garden one night before Hearn will join other promoters in playing a key role in Alalshikh’s “Ring III” event on DAZN at the Louis Armstrong Stadium tennis venue in nearby Queens. 

“I’m always going to say so but I think it’s a great time for boxing,” Hearn said. “I think relationships have changed a bit between promotional companies and networks. Everybody seems to be working together for the greater good of the sport. We are consistently promoting around the world every week. Our business is pretty big and that is before Riyadh Season and before Ring magazine events. It’s a fully fledged schedule with no breaks. 

“There seems to be a good buy-in from promoters and the fighters themselves to try to make great fights.”