The “Glory in Giza” has reached the final stage of the main card. After Shakhram Giyasov and Jack Catterall’s title fight, attention shifts to the co-main event featuring Hamzah Sheeraz vs. Alem Begic, before Oleksandr Usyk’s Ring Magazine and WBC title defense closes out the night.

As the action builds toward the main event, attention is also beginning to shift beyond Giza, with show organizer Turki Alalshikh already exploring his next move. Reports now indicate the Riyadh Season head has shown interest in staging Usyk’s next matchup at another historic location.

“🚨 Usyk vs Wilder in Istanbul?! 🇹🇷🥊,” read Boxing King Media’s latest tweet. ” Eddie Hearn and Turki Alalshikh discussing the possibility of a huge event in Turkey at the Hagia Sophia.”

“Hearn states that Usyk would have to drop a belt, which could be the WBC…. A heavyweight showdown between Oleksandr Usyk and Deontay Wilder on the banks of the Bosphorus would be absolutely insane.”

The update is reportedly based on discussions involving Alalshikh, who arrived at the venue in Giza, and Hearn, the event’s primary promoter.

A strong supporter of large-scale spectacles, Alalshikh has drawn global attention with the card staged under the shadow of the pyramids in Egypt. The decision to build a full-scale setup at such a historic site has already sparked widespread reactions across the boxing world.

That interest is further fueled by Riyadh Season’s recent run of high-profile staging, including the Fatal Fury event at New York’s Times Square in May last year.

Still, the idea of Oleksandr Usyk‘s next fight taking place in Istanbul has not gone over well with a section of fans.

Usyk fight vision from Turki Alalshikh divides fans

One wrote bluntly, “Turki is proper lame.” While subjective, it reflects the broader split in opinion surrounding these large-scale event concepts. With Usyk and Deontay Wilder both nearing the later stages of their careers, discussions around legacy matchups and spectacle-driven venues continue to intensify.

Others echoed similar frustration. “Can we stop doing this?” wrote another. More often than not, the recurring concern among viewers is less about the location and more about timing, especially for audiences in the United States and Europe, where late-night cards often make live viewing difficult.

“Please no 😭😭,” another fan added, as more measured reactions soon followed. Speculating on a possible pathway, one user suggested, “Maybe Usyk vacates the WBC belt, Kabayel gets elevated to full champion, Usyk fights Wilder in Turkey, and then his last fight is for undisputed against Kabayel in Germany.”

The idea has some internal logic, but it also raises immediate questions. Why would Usyk vacate a belt just to face Wilder? As the interim champion, Kabayel has already positioned himself as a mandatory challenger. And after facing a former kickboxing champion, there is a growing argument that Usyk should be moving toward fresher opposition rather than revisiting fading heavyweight names.

Usyk himself has stated he plans to fight three more times before retirement. After Rico, he is expected to face the winner of Fabio Wardley vs. Daniel Dubois for the WBO title – a fight that could put him back on track toward becoming undisputed champion for a third time. So the question remains: where exactly does Wilder fit into that timeline?

Another fan raised a simple question: “IBF too?” That comes from the sanctioning picture, where Frank Sanchez and Richard Torrez were set for a title eliminator in the main card.

With Sanchez securing a second-round knockout win, he becomes Usyk’s mandatory challenger.

Still, the broader uncertainty remains unresolved: how does Wilder realistically fit into this picture?

Previously, Usyk’s and Wilder’s camps were in talks for a fight before negotiations slowed down. With the WBC also showing signs of moving toward alternative directions involving Kabayel, the matchup currently appears unlikely, for now.