Turki Alalshikh named eight fighters that he’s considering for the undercard of the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford on September 12th. The names on Alalshikh’s eight-fighter list have some fans disappointed.

Young, Hungry Fighters for Undercard

There are two good fighters, Christian Mbilli and Abdullah Mason, but after that, it’s all prospects that only the ultra-hardcore boxing fans are familiar with. Turki said on X that he wants to “load the undercard with young, hungry fighters.”

Dana White is promoting the event, and some fans believe he’s the one who chose the list. In other words, using his UFC playbook of focusing exclusively on one good fight in the main event, and the rest of the card to showcase new talent or fighters that are useful as opponents.

MMA fans are tolerant of the main event being the sole draw for the UFC cards, and they don’t grumble. As such, if it works in the sport, it’ll work in boxing as well.

Turki Alalshikh’s Undercard Fighter List

Christian Mbilli
Mohammed Alakel
Reito Tsutsumi
Justin Viloria
Emiliano Alvarado
Jamar Talley
Abdullah Mason
Nishant Dev

Saving Money on Boxing Undercards

Loading the undercard with young, obscure fighters is a way to save money while maintaining the focus on the headliner. With the kind of money that Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford are getting for their fight, you can understand why it would be a good idea to skimp on the undercard.

Moreover, the idea is to have fans 100% excited about the Canelo-Crawford fight; using unknown fighters on the undercard is one way to achieve that goal. There are already fans saying they’re not interested in seeing Canelo fight an old Crawford, who wouldn’t even take a tune-up at 168 to show that he can handle the 14-lb weight jump.

If the fans have never heard of the undercard fighters, they can’t help but focus on the main event between Canelo and Crawford. There’s also less chance that any of the undercard fights will upstage them.

The world will be watching Riyadh Season’s Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford fight of the century on Netflix. And for that, I want to load the undercard with young, hungry fighters who deserve the chance to perform under the bright lights. These are some of the names I hope to see… pic.twitter.com/vnRy0OMfNH

— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) June 11, 2025