By Edward Chaykovsky
Next month, WBO junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford (28-0, 20KOs) will make his pay-per-view debut, when he faces WBC world champion Viktor Postol (28-0, 12KOs) in a unification.
The event will take place on July 23rd from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum, who promotes both fighters, says the upcoming bout is the first step in grooming Crawford's to be a pay-per-view attraction.
Arum says his company is following the same pay-per-view game plan that was used to build the last three major pay-per-view attractions, Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
So far the veteran promoter is pleased with the amount of tickets being sold for the card. There are two world title fights which feature Gilberto Ramirez and Oscar Valdez.
"I knew I was going to have to put Crawford as a pay-per-view main event sometime. To hit big pay-per-view numbers, you have to have a build-up. It’s the way we built Mayweather, Pacquiao and De La Hoya," Arum told the Las Vegas Sun.
"I wasn’t going to start with Crawford this early, but HBO said they could only accommodate him twice a year, and he should be fighting three times a year. So the alternative was to take his biggest fight, which is Postol, and make it a pay-per-view and dress it up. We’ve dressed it up with two other title fights and a hellacious Hispanic war, and ticket sales, this far out, have gone extraordinarily well. I think we made the right move."
Regarding the fight, Arum feels it's one of the better fights in the sport.
"When you look at the boxing landscape, this is probably the best fight out there. It’s so evenly matched and each guy has a world title. Each guy is undefeated. It’s a fascinating match," Arum said.
