Boxing is going through a massively important period right now but some want change.
Turki Alalshikh has been at the forefront of the huge boost that the sport has received in recent years due to his position as the Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority for Saudi Arabia.
Via Riyadh Season, he has been able to give fight fans what they have been calling for for years by making the matchups that people want to see happen.
Boxing has already experienced some big changes in recent times but one discussion point that has recently come back around is the length of championship bouts.
Following some comments made by Teofimo Lopez, WBA president Gilberto Mendoza said that the sanctioning body could be open to trialling some 15-round contests for specific fights.
Turki Alalshikh swiftly puts his foot down on the idea of 15-round bouts
For decades, championship bouts would consist of 15-rounds until a high profile casualty forced the sanctioning bodies to make a change.
Duk Koo Him tragically passed away in 1982 after going 14 rounds with Ray Mancini, leading the WBC to act quickly with the WBA, WBO and IBF all eventually following suit.
Despite some pushback to the decision along the way, it’s clear why having shorter fights would be much safer for the athletes both in terms of damage and exhaustion.
There have been some iconic moments produced in the final three stages of a 15-round fight that wouldn’t have happened if the fight didn’t go this long but 12-rounds has proven to be the right call even if casualties still happen in the sport.
With that in mind, Turki Alalshikh was very to the point when giving his response to whether high level fights should go on for another nine minutes.
He was passionately against the idea due to the health concerns and ruled it out entirely.
“No, I don’t support this idea in any way. This is bad for a fighter’s health and I would never be in favor of fights going back to 15 rounds. In my opinion, even a 12 round fight could be too much for a fighter’s health, but 15 rounds is out of the question. A 15-round fight should never be allowed to happen.”
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Boxing doesn’t need to go back in time right now
Turki Alalshikh has helped to bring boxing back into the present day by putting on big, accessible events and giving people what they want to see.
The sport hasn’t felt this culturally relevant in a long time and increasing the rounds and therefore the damage that the fighters take isn’t going to go hand-in-hand with that.
Boxing simply doesn’t need to take a step back in order to take more steps forward because it’s leading the way for itself right now.
Creating a huge debate and rift in the sport is not what boxing needs when it’s riding such a strong wave of momentum even when you don’t factor the health risks into it.