PBC executive: Terence Crawford vs Errol Spence Jr hasn’t happened because the money isn’t there.

[Aarkan]

On why Terence Crawford vs Errol Spence Jr hasn’t happened
“Economics. And you don’t really want to insult a guy like Terence Crawford, who’s a tremendous talent, and I’m not taking away anything from his talent. But he hasn’t been built into a pay-per-view star. I’m not saying that to throw shade at the guy, but you gotta go on his track record, on what he’s done in the pay-per-view fights he’s been involved in. It’s not my job to tell anybody how to make him a pay-per-view star. We have enough work on our hands dealing with trying to make our own guys into pay-per-view stars, but he just hasn’t been built.

“Trust me, if there is money in him fighting Errol Spence where he can get what he wants and Errol can get what he wants, that fight would get made. You don’t want to insult the guy and make him an offer that’s insulting. Nobody wants to do that. He’s a proud champion and you don’t want to do that to him. But from a business standpoint, it’s a fight that might excite the fans, and all these people that are out there yelling about pay-per-view, they’re not buying it anyway. They’re not gonna plop down any money to make it successful. They’re going to steal the fight, and the numbers won’t be enough to get him what he wants. I don’t know what that number is, but I would think that that number would be very high. I’m not involved in those talks, but that’s just looking at the sport historically, and I don’t think he should be insulted.”

Link:https://www.badlefthook.com/2022/1/...nt-happened-money-isnt-there-boxing-news-2022

 

[Seano]

There's truth to that. They don't sell PPVs. Would it sell if they fought each other? Maybe but thats a big gamble for those putting the fight together.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Boxing. Where two top guys will just keep fighting also rans instead of each other because the promoters won't make mega millions ..

 

[Hitdepruns]

Tbh I even bought Belfort vs Evander.... so i would surely tune.

 

[don't quote me!]

Boxing. Where two top guys will just keep fighting also rans instead of each other because the promoters won't make mega millions ..

I'm not sure it's the promotors fault. Paying Crawford what he wants to fight Spence would cause mass redundancies, people like him send more people home from work than covid. He made 6m from an event that generated less than 10m against Porter, he has priced himself out of big fights and at this stage I don't know where he turns. He can't fight Taylor as I believe he is a top rank fighter and it is hard to see him working with them again

 

[tekkennlee]

They would make enough money if they fought that's an excuse somebody doesn't want to take that lesser split, otherwise they would've fought a long time ago, now certain people are just making excuses this same thing happened with Wilder vs Joshua all of the sudden money's a problem and they can't make the fight Fury steps in and they make bank but before according to team Joshua Wilder couldn't sell a PPV fights because nobody knows about him but Wilder shad no problem selling the Fury mega fights.

Not buying this they can't sell PPV's that's a lie, someone is demanding too much money and the promoter doesn't want to pay, maybe they can't agree on who's getting the higher split, so this is causing problems Spence wants more than Crawford or Crawford wants more than Spence nobodies budging, so not fight, they aren't making Floyd vs Pac money and that's a fact, nobody is getting 100 million, most likely 10 to 20 million range, Crawford only makes about 5 million a fight he's not making Floyd money, Spence makes around 6 million a fight he's not getting Floyd money, until they can agree on the split there's no fight.

 

[WklySportsMemes]

If multi promotions are saying this, guess who is pricing themselves out?

Top Rank, PBC, and I even heard Eddie Hearn try to deflect the notion of picking up Crawford saying there is very little he could do for him. Lol

Also, I think it was a horrible idea for Crawford to try and sellout Omaha venues once he became a name. That was inflating the gate at the cost of building him nationally.

 

[bjl12]

Its hilarious that "promotional" companies cant sell arguably the best fighter in the world. The problem isn't about marketability, its about asset management.

Terrence likely beats Spence, Thurman, Taylor, and any other current WW so why sacrifice those assets for a 34 year old free agent ??

The Crawford fight is VERY EXPENSIVE because its LOW reward and VERY HIGH risk. Lose and your fighters value as an asset decreases. Win and very little is achieved MARKETABILITY-wise but legacy grows a lot.

Promoters will not be lining up for Crawford

 

[KAZSoliloquy]

crawford can’t sell ppv’s because he’s been fighting guys like kavaliauskas and julius indongo. if he’d been fighting guys like garcia, thurman, pacquiao, hell even broner, he’d have a solid american fanbase. they gave him two good british names but they put the fights in new york and las vegas. there’s been no marketing or promotional strategy whatsoever.

 

[bjl12]

crawford can’t sell ppv’s because he’s been fighting guys like kavaliauskas and julius indongo. if he’d been fighting guys like garcia, thurman, pacquiao, hell even broner, he’d have a solid american fanbase. they gave him two good british names but they put the fights in new york and las vegas. there’s been no marketing or promotional strategy whatsoever.

That's why Terrence is suing Arum (not that he'll win the suit). Arum and Top Rank did a HORRIBLE job PROMOTING Crawford whose been Top 3 PFP for about 5 years now...and yet most people dont know he exists.

Hell Arum did a HORRIBLE job with Lomachenko as well who was also Top 5 PFP for 3-4 years.

Arum and Top Rank do have a healthy collection of fighters but theyre completely incapable of PROMOTING. They build fight cards in-house and thats about it.

Crawford waited too long to become a FA and now he wont earn nearly what he could have. Wont be the last boxer this happens to....

 

[Goober stoober]

im not sure who to blame but the truth is since mayweather left, there hasn't been a PPV star created. Canelo and to a lesser extent Manny, were the only guys that could even sell PPVs on a regular basis and even then it wasn't 1mill buys unless it was against another "name" opponent.

Canelo was even on DAZN to avoid the PPV model and tbh, wouldn't have sold a bunch versus the guys he ended up disposing.

Using the current model, there's no argument here as to whether TC is a draw or not. He simply isn't. But as I mentioned above, no one is.

Sure guys like Tank and Errol do reasonably well but are they guys that can build an event that does over 1mill buys? Not saying that's the metric for a successful event ( the bar is much lower) but this is the level of the biggest stars in the sport. If either of these guys were to fight mayweather, would it even do 1mill now?

They could fix a few things off the bat, even if they don't want to stop doing PPVs.

1) Start a boxing network with the major Promoters and cut out the cable companies and networks.

2) Lower the PPV price now that the a large portion isn't being paid to the networks/cable companies.

3) Get the fights fans want to see right away. Stop building up fighters with meaningless fights and do it using social media, interviews and the like.

4) Stop thinking that fans care about belts. They care about matchups. There isn't any epic fight that would have sucked due to a lack of titles on the line.

Now, the real tough part is: How does a boxer transition from star to PPV star?

I don't know if there is an actual solution or if it's solely on the fighters. There's plenty of guys who built a following through their records and abilities and there's others who have built in national fanbases.

Personally, I'd do away with the PPV model completely. I think it turns off new fans from getting into the sport and that means you're losing out on potential revenue.

 

[JSN]

The problem with their outlook is neither one is going to garner big time revenue fighting also-rans. It’a clearly the riskiest fight for both of them at the weight class, but it’s also the biggest either would draw almost guaranteed.

 

[MT5]

3) Get the fights fans want to see right away. Stop building up fighters with meaningless fights and do it using social media, interviews and the like.

4) Stop thinking that fans care about belts. They care about matchups. There isn't any epic fight that would have sucked due to a lack of titles on the line.

This this this. I won't pretend that I, a loser sitting in my crappy condo, know what revenue model the industry should take. But they need good fights. People can't be scared a loss will end their career. I dont know how you change this. But boxing won't really come back until you do. If people are scared to lose they pick crap opponents. It will forever be thus. When a guy can be, say, 21 - 6 and in the midst of his comeback second title run..... thats exciting. IMHO.

 

[Goober stoober]

This this this. I won't pretend that I, a loser sitting in my crappy condo, know what revenue model the industry should take. But they need good fights. People can't be scared a loss will end their career. I dont know how you change this. But boxing won't really come back until you do. If people are scared those they pick crap opponents. It will forever be thus. When a guy can be, say, 21 - 6 and in the midst of his comeback second title run..... thats exciting. IMHO.

yup, im not sure when it happened (the 90s?) but there was a distinct change in how fighters were promoted. Being undefeated back in the day actually meant something because you fought everyone to get there. I always contended that if Mayweather had lost a big fight, he would have been even bigger on the comeback.

 

[KeithHackneyballpunch]

Terence Crawford is another fighter who unfortunately has sabotaged his own career.

a man with his skills, and the victories he has under his belt should be a superstar at this point. but with his constant contractual bitching, spurious accusations of racism, and inactivity have undermined what could have been a great legacy.

ask the average person in the street who Terence Crawford is, and 9 times out 10 you'll get a blank stare.

very few know who he is, let alone care. He did this to himself.

 

[don't quote me!]

Terence Crawford is another fighter who unfortunately has sabotaged his own career.


ask the average person in the street who Terence Crawford is, and 9 times out 10 you'll get a blank stare.

very few know who he is, let alone care. He did this to himself.

I agree he has damaged his own career/popularity, but that was due to signing with top rank, whilst knowing all the best welterweights were at PBC. I can only assume Top rank offered more money, so you can't really blame him that much.

I disagree with the rest of your post

a man with his skills, and the victories he has under his belt should be a superstar at this point. but with his constant contractual bitching, spurious accusations of racism, and inactivity have undermined what could have been a great legacy.ask the average person in the street who Terence Crawford is, and 9 times out 10 you'll get a blank stare.

very few know who he is, let alone care. He did this to himself.

It takes more than the wins/skills he has had to be a superstar. It is harder than ever especially for someone of his race/origin.

You can't say on the one hand people haven't heard of him, then blame comments he has made for him not being popular. If they haven't heard of him, nothing he has said could make a difference to his popularity. He has also been fairly active fighting at least twice a year until the pandemic, alot of people have fairly naive impressions of what make fighters popular. YOu may not like him, the reason you don't like him have nothing to do with why he isn't a superstar

 

[cuban23]

There's nothing interesting about Crawford, boring fight and boring talker.

 

[SandisLL]

Well, if in real Bob had paid him 4m$ for fight vs Mean Machine, I see this as very generous sum.
For fight vs Spence Jr I think most likely Terence had asked too much.

 

[tekkennlee]

That's why Terrence is suing Arum (not that he'll win the suit). Arum and Top Rank did a HORRIBLE job PROMOTING Crawford whose been Top 3 PFP for about 5 years now...and yet most people dont know he exists.

Hell Arum did a HORRIBLE job with Lomachenko as well who was also Top 5 PFP for 3-4 years.

Arum and Top Rank do have a healthy collection of fighters but theyre completely incapable of PROMOTING. They build fight cards in-house and thats about it.

Crawford waited too long to become a FA and now he wont earn nearly what he could have. Wont be the last boxer this happens to....

Bob did what he could do marketing these fighters, they are on the biggest sports network on cable television and still can't sell PPV's because they are laidback people, Floyd understood how to sell himself, Ali, Conor and others also, but Conor started acting foolish, Crawford has to fight someone that will push him beyond the limits show his greatness this makes legends Fury can sell himself and Wilder and Fury became legendary because they pushed themselves beyond the limits, Fury got up from being dead to rights completely out and Wilder pushed himself until he was completely out, both fighters will sell huge PPV's . Crawford and Spence need each other fight a trilogy and make millions especially if the fights are close, losing doesn't mean you still can't sell PPV's, Holyfield lost to Bowe and still became legendary multiple champions and stopped Mike Tyson, others have lost and even became greater losing doesn't mean you're finished, Canelo lost to Floyd and is becoming legendary, Crawford fighting Spence will make both fighters greater and more money, Marquez vs Manny proves this, how many times did Marquez lose to Pac and others still becoming legendary among all fans not just Mexicans, Marquez became even greater after losing to Manny.

Promotes haven't figured this out yet? or the two fighters haven't figured this out yet demanding too much money, their demands will be obtained if they have an incredible fight a war of intelligence will and have multiple fights, they will get paid because the people will want more Wilder vs Fury proved this Bowe vs Holyfield and Ali vs Joe, they need to fight this year.

 

[JSN]

Another big factor in Crawford’s non-meteoric rise was that they coupled his thin ass resume with hyperbole that sounded like parody. He’d beat some bum and “IS THERE ANY QUESTION THAT HES THE TOP PFP FIGHTER ON THE PLANET?”

It just leads to eyerolling.