Boxing

Turki Alalshikh Disses Gervonta 'Tank' Davis Fight Money After 'Devil' Claim

Riyadh Season chairman Turki Alalshikh threw shade at Tank Davis' sub-par fight purses compared to what he could offer.
Grant Young|
Gervonta Davis having fun and full of energy during the press conference on May 5, 2024.
Gervonta Davis having fun and full of energy during the press conference on May 5, 2024. | IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

Now that Saul "Canelo" Alvarez has agreed to a four-fight deal with Turki Alalshikh, current Chairman of Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority, essentially the lone world-class boxer that still hasn't agreed to fight under Alalshikh's 'Riyadh Season' banner is Gervonta "Tank" Davis.

This is not because Alalshikh does not want to do business with the WBA lightweight champion.

In 2024, Alalshikh stated publicly that he'd like to stage a fight between Tank Davis and Devin Haney in Saudi Arabia. In response, Davis wrote on X, "They made me mad, if they want me, they have to send something to my door..like two Ferraris or sum! Like before I even think about going over there,"

This sentiment prompted a response from Alalshikh that said, "I heard Davis said, 'Send to me two Ferraris.' I say to him - we will send you two gloves if you want, that's it.”

Relations between these two sides haven't improved since that interaction last year. This was shown by Tank Davis's eye-opening comment during a February 27 interview with FightHype that said of Riyadh Season, "They’ve been saying they’re getting messed up over there. Everything is different. It’s not just one fight. It’s numerous fights, and you see the guy who looked at the scorecards. That was scary. The way he was talking, ‘Yeah, that’s my man. We want to get Tank over here and fight.’ Man, I already know what y’all going to do.

"Every time I say something, it’s like I’m hating because I’m going against the grain. Yeah, people selling themselves. That picture with everybody was in the room [posing with Turki Alalshikh]. That looked like some devil s***, didn’t it? Facts, though. Devil s***, like they sold their souls," he added.

Davis is referring to photos of legendary boxers and combat sports icons posing together before some of RIyadh Season's recent major cards.

Alalshikh offered a statement in Davis' comments through Ring Magazine on February 28 that wrote, "I don’t blame Tank Davis for anything that he says, he doesn’t know me and If i put myself in his position: if he sees [Terence] Crawford making in two fights more with 5 times than all what Tank made in his career. This is a natural reaction from him.

"We will let him keep talking and we will continue making great cards and Crawford will continue thinking how he will spend his money."

With Alalshikh now taking thinly-veiled jabs at Davis' fight purses, it's hard to imagine these two sides doing business together in the future.

Then again, the same has been said for other fighters who Alalshikh eventually brought to Riyadh Season.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.