Turki Alalshikh wants cruiserweight champion to face Usyk in 2027.
Riyadh Season has been known to put together matchups that we never thought we’d see, ranging from long-awaited clashes like Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk to seemingly far-fetched bouts like Canelo Álvarez vs. Terence Crawford.
It has changed boxing as a whole since it arrived in late 2023 and has delivered us spectacles and fantastic nights of action on many occasions.
On Saturday, fans experienced perhaps the best 24-hour period of boxing in a number of years, as Naoya Inoue vs. Junto Nakatani, Conah Walker vs. Sam Eggington, and David Benavidez vs. Gilberto Ramírez took place on the same day.
Walker vs. Eggington was a tremendous tear-up that shocked and entertained in equal measure, but Inoue-Nakatani and Benavidez-Ramírez saw some great world-level talents enhance their reputations even further.
In the case of Benavidez, his first performance at cruiserweight was so utterly dominant and one-sided that it could even be described as anti-competitive.
He bullied Ramírez into a 6th-round stoppage to win the unified championship and become a three-division titleholder. Many were so impressed by the display that they even foresaw similar success for Benavidez at the weight above.
It appears Turki Alalshikh is in agreement, as it has been reported that he is wanting to make a fight between the American and Oleksandr Usyk for 2027.
Usyk is the current unified heavyweight champion and has been running out of unique opponents to face. While a clash with mandatory Agit Kabayel is seemingly on the cards, he is currently set to fight kickboxer Rico Verhoeven.
Perhaps Usyk would be in the mood for another surprising pairing against Benavidez, who claims a desire to move back down to light-heavyweight to seek glory there.
The likes of Richard Torrez Jr. and Joseph Awinongya Jr. have been eyed as the next beltholders amongst the big men from the United States, but maybe, just maybe, the next American heavyweight champion is someone who presently isn’t even a heavyweight.
‼️ Turki Alalshikh wants to make Oleksandr Usyk vs David Benavidez for the heavyweight championship in 2027, The Ring’s @MikeCoppinger has learned.
Benavidez moved up to cruiserweight Saturday and won two titles with a KO victory of Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez. Usyk returns May… pic.twitter.com/DG8n581Xka
— Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) May 4, 2026
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