Dean Lonergan, promoter for WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn (18-0-1, 12 KOs), is not worried about a change of scenery for the upcoming mandatory defense against Terence Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs).
The fight was initially targeted for an ESPN date of April 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. But that is no more.
BoxingScene.com first reported earlier this week that Horn vs. Crawford was shifting over to Las Vegas, likely at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
There is no problem for Lonergan to have the contest come over to Las Vegas, because his boxer's purse remains the same and there are some advantages in their favor. Horn is reportedly earning $2 million for the fight.
"Boxing is always very fluid. It doesn't make any difference from our point of view. Jeff's purse will be the same and from we're quite happy about the move," Lonergan said to the Sydney Morning Herald.
"It's one less time zone to cross. Going to the east coast of the USA is one of the hardest time zones to acclimatise to if you are coming from Australia or New Zealand. It's not only the five-hour extra flight, it's the three-hour time difference. Trying to get body clock acclimatised is tough."
Top Rank, who promote Crawford, also saw promotional benefits with cheaper hotels, available gym facilities, and spending less money to stage the event.
"It probably has more to do with the fact the arena became available. It could be a cost issue as well. Any time you can save money, or they think they can get a better crowd, good luck to them. They know the American market. We don't worry about it much. We want to turn up, fight and get the job done," Lonergan said.
The overall deal has yet to be finalized, but Lonergan expects everything to get set down very shortly and states that there are no major issues that would break the fight agreement.
"There's no major hold-up. Top Rank don't just hold one fight a year. These things just take time. Bob Arum has been doing this stuff since about 1963. I'm just waiting for the contract to come through, we'll go over it and we'll get the deal done," Lonergan said.
"I would have thought it will be done in the next week. There are always variations to the contract... we're all on the same page, we just need to close it all down."
