Bob Arum doesn’t see how the fight between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence can be made this year.
The Top Rank head honcho says the undisputed welterweight showdown will be too difficult to facilitate due to the purse requirements.
Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) putting the IBF, WBA and WBC titles in the 147-pound division against the WBO champion Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) is one of the most highly-anticipated clashes in world boxing.
But Arum believes the fight will struggle to happen, given the number of pay-per-view buys it would have to do.
Speaking to Fighthype ,the veteran promoter said;
“It has tremendous interest from people who follow boxing, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into revenue from pay-per-view, which is the biggest source because of the piracy.”
“PBC has to look at it and say, ‘Hey, we’ll put it on, we’ll give you nice guarantees, but you’ve got to really live from the upside.’”
The idea of Crawford or Spence agreeing to get their money through the upside from pay-per-view is unlikely.
“If we drop the cost of the pay-per-view down to $20 or $25, which is what we started with on pay-per-view.
“Would people then forego pirating the signal and pay the money to watch the fight legitimately?
“Many boxing fans would choose to purchase the Spence vs. Crawford fight on PPV if the price were dropped to $20, but PBC is unlikely to make that move, unfortunately.”
Arum is a legend of the fight game, having promoted fighters since the days of Muhammad Ali. He is in the promotional corner of undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney, who will rematch George Kambosos Jr. in Australia later this year, as well as a former king of the lightweight division in Teofimo Lopez.
Vasiliy Lomachenko, the two-time Olympic champion and ex-world champion in three weight classes, is also on the roster and is said to be ready to return following his stint on the front line, defending his country of Ukraine in the war against Russia.
Arum concluded about Spence-Crawford:
“Unless somebody wants to subsidise that fight, I don’t know how it gets done.”