Fatal flop! Turki’s boxing weekend double-header delivers historic duds

Turki Alalshikh’s big Fatal Fury weekend double-header has come and gone, and for all the talent and hype on the cards, they will go down in history as some of the worst, most tepid boxing we’ve ever witnessed.

You might think that’s hyperbole, but the stats don’t lie: Canelo Alvarez vs. William Scull, Ryan Garcia vs. Rolly Romero, and Devin Haney vs. Jose Ramirez are all in the Compubox bottom 6 for ‘Fewest combined punches thrown in a 12 round fight.’ After Friday, Haney vs. Ramirez was No. 5 at 503 punches but was pushed to No. 6 on Saturday night by new No. 1 Canelo vs. Scull with 445 punches.

‘Fatal fury’ it was not.

We have to imagine Turki Alalshikh is not a happy man. He’s been bankrolling these big fights with little care for whether they actually make money or not. And for the most part, the fights he’s booked have delivered. Another Fatal Fury-branded event last weekend featuring Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn in front of 65,000 fans in the U.K. was legendary.

But there seems to be a reoccurring trend: when he books tune-ups like Garcia vs. Romero and Haney vs. Ramirez, or lead-ins like Canelo vs. Scull was for Canelo vs. Crawford in September, the boxing gods make those best-laid plans go awry.

Will Alalshikh be pleased that he spent over $100 million on purses just for everyone (except Teofimo Lopez, he’s cool) to lay a historic stink egg?

Former ESPN reporter Dan Rafael summed up Saturday’s Fatal Fury event in Saudi Arabia, writing that it “featured virtually no action as Scull spent most of the fight bouncing up and down, circling the perimeter of the ring, staring at Alvarez for long stretches, doing nothing of consequence on offense, and sometimes outright running away from Alvarez, whose own offensive effort was nearly as unwatchable in the most forgettable title fight of his decorated career.”

As for Friday’s Fatal Fury in Times Square, retired former multi-division boxing champion Tim Bradley didn’t mince his words when describing how dreadful things were.

“Everybody — that whole show was trash,” Bradley declared. “All the fighters on there, they don’t have the passion, bro. They don’t have the desire, at all. Everybody is spoiled nowadays. Fighters are whack, straight up whack. All of them, straight trash. Whack. That was horrible to watch yesterday. I was so angry, man. And you can see I’m still angry about it.

“I didn’t see no hunger in these dudes, man. No hunger, only there for the money. That’s the biggest problem with today’s boxing. All these guys, everybody looking to line up to get that big paycheck, that’s it. They’re not looking to add to the sport, they’re not looking to add to any kind of legacy.”

As everyone who watches combat sports knows, sometimes a fight just doesn’t live up to the hype. But this was a particularly bad series of fights from some of the best boxers in the world. It’s a reminder of how bad boxing can be when those involved are willing to play it safe, phone it in, and cash out.