By Keith Idec
The promotion of the Terence Crawford-Amir Khan pay-per-view fight will get underway next week.
BoxingScene.com has learned that Crawford and Khan will appear at press conferences Tuesday in London and next Thursday, January 17, in New York. The sites of their press conferences will be announced later this week.
The 31-year-old Crawford (34-0, 25 KOs), of Omaha, Nebraska, and the 32-year-old Khan (33-4, 20 KOs), of Bolton, England, have agreed to fight April 20 for Crawford’s WBO welterweight title. Contracts are in the process of being finalized, but the framework for their deal has been agreed upon by both sides.
The venue for their fight hadn’t been chosen as of early Wednesday evening. It’ll take place either at Madison Square Garden in New York or MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
ESPN will distribute Crawford-Khan as the main event of a pay-per-view telecast as part of the cable giant’s exclusive contract with Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., Crawford’s promoter. Khan’s three-bout contract with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing will conclude with the Crawford fight.
As BoxingScene.com first reported last week, Khan choose Crawford as his next opponent over British rival Kell Brook (https://www.boxingscene.com/amir-khan-decided-fight-crawford-likely-april-20-msg--135148).
Khan could’ve made more money for boxing Brook, who’s also promoted by Hearn. The 2004 Olympian still accepted Top Rank’s $5 million guarantee for facing Crawford.
The former IBF/WBA 140-pound champion could make up at least some of the difference by keeping much or all of the British pay-per-view revenue from the Crawford fight. Had he battled Brook, Khan would’ve had to split that money with the former IBF welterweight champ.
Crawford initially was expected to battle Brooklyn’s Luis Collazo on March 23 at Madison Square Garden. Public backlash to choosing Collazo (38-7, 20 KOs) as his next opponent made Top Rank move in a different direction, toward Khan.
Top Rank previously had offered former welterweight and junior welterweight champ Danny Garcia a $3 million guarantee to challenge Crawford. Angel Garcia, Danny Garcia’s father and trainer, never responded to Top Rank’s formal offer.
Philadelphia’s Garcia (34-2, 20 KOs), who knocked out Khan in the fourth round 6½ years ago, since has agreed to square off against Adrian Granados (20-6-2, 14 KOs) on April 20, the same night Crawford and Khan will fight.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.