Pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford headlines stacked Aug. 3 card in Los Angeles put together by Turki Alalshikh

When the MGM Grand opened in Las Vegas in 1994, it was heavily into boxing. And while it was open to all promoters, Don King put on some of the biggest shows of that decade in its MGM Grand Garden Arena. It wasn't uncommon for there to be more than 10 current or former world champions on one of those cards as well as five or six future Hall of Famers.

Some of the King cards in those days were so deep that Ricardo Lopez, a Hall of Famer who finished his career with a 51-0-1 record, would often fight at 3:30 in the afternoon.

Those are the kinds of shows that Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia, has been putting on as part of Riyadh Season. For the first time in decades, on Aug. 3 in Los Angeles, there will be such a card in the U.S., when a show headlined by a super welterweight title fight between pound-for-pound No. 1 Terence Crawford and Israil Madrimov will be held at BMO Stadium.

Promoter Eddie Hearn called it the greatest card ever to land in the U.S. While that's a bit of an exaggeration, it's undoubtedly the deepest card top to bottom to be held in the U.S. in the 21st century.

Promoters in the U.S. haven't been willing to spend the kind of money it takes to put on this type of deep card. And if there are cards with many big names, usually the big names are fighting tomato cans.

Alalshikh has almost single-handedly changed the course of boxing by stacking shows in Saudi Arabia and making the type of shows that had been unthinkable in recent years. While the U.S. now takes a backseat to Saudi Arabia in terms of major cards, at least Alalshikh is bringing one to the United States.

 "We are delighted for Riyadh Season to host its first overseas event in Los Angeles and this fight in the United States is a special one to mark this moment," Alalshikh said in a statement. "We want to give people around the world the opportunity to enjoy their own Riyadh Season experience and this is exactly what we hope to achieve by staging this and also future events around the world."

In addition to Crawford against Madrimov for the WBA and interim WBO super welterweight titles, announced bouts include:

• WBA super lightweight champion Isaac Cruz defends his belt against Jose Valenzuela.

• Former unified heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. will meet Jarrell Miller.

• Vergil Ortiz will meet Tim Tszyu in a super welterweight bout providing Ortiz defeats Thomas Dulorme on Saturday.

• WBA super middleweight champion David Morrell, a pound-for-pound talent, will move to light heavyweight to face Radivoje Kalajdzic.

• Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz of Cuba will face Antonio Moran.

King deserves a lot of credit for the deep shows he used to put on. On Nov. 9, 1996, at the MGM Grand Garden, Hall of Famers Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield met in the main event for the WBA heavyweight title. Also on that card were future Hall of Famers Michael Moorer, Lopez and Christy Martin. The show had five future Hall of Famers, three heavyweight title fights and five world championship fights.

For boxing to make a signficant comeback, those are the kinds of deep cards promoters need to offer fans. Alalshikh put together a consortium of promoters to put together the Aug. 3 card, which is significant if they'll agree to work together like that in the future without Alalshikh's involvement. It will take time as well as consistency, but boxing can keep its head above water regularly in the U.S. if those kinds of cards are continually put together.