Arum: When Spence vs. Crawford can sell 500k PPV buys we'll start to talk

[Larry the boss]

It will never be a huge fight. These guys have been around for a while as it is and neither of them have any mainstream appeal

Why are you going out of your way to blame Spence and Crawford?

[Citizen Koba]

No he won't, that has been being said since he turned pro. Guess what? Still at 147. Still on weight weeks before a fight, and just came in at 156 on fight night. He will continue making weight as long as he wants to.

If he only came in 156 maybe he can hold it longer though I can see the rationale in Al and Bob basically tacitly agreeing to have their guys rule adjacent divisions. All I was really doing was playing the odds - basically it's the norm for fighters to move up to their mature division at the age of 30(ish) when reputedly the cut becomes a lot harder to make. in Spences case he'll turn 30 in Jan 2020 so I wouldn't be surprised if he moves up over the course of that year - if not earlier.

[Ray*]

Sooooooo never.

Did you see Spence tonight? All the talent in the world, but little personality. Same for Bud. They're not PPV guys and never will be.

Spence-Crawford for all the titles, undisputed, would sell 300-400k tops.

Yep, both of them put together wouldn’t do much. They just don’t have the personality to push this fight. Their promoters would have to work extra hard to get this done.

[4truth]

This fight isn’t going to build itself. Right now with Spence fighting nobodies in forgettable matches and Crawford destined to do the same , even worse, on ESPN+, this fight won’t happen while these guys are even near prime. Fk off Bob!

[hectari]

The issue is not their personality its lack of promotional push, if ufc promoter Dana White had crawford and spence they would be stars right now. Old boxing promoters like arum and haymon dont know how to market on the internet, that is dana whites speciality, look at his youtube ufc channel its massive, dana white uses social media to make conor and ronda big

[_original_]

You're right, I am. I just looked it up and Ward Kovalev sold 130k in the rematch. I don't think it does that poorly, but 200k is probably the ceiling.

If you look at Miguel Cotto, a true star in the sport, his PPV with Martinez only did 350k.

500k for Spence and Crawford? Not happening. Mayweather and Pacquiao were superstars, Spence and Crawford are just boxers.

True. And theres no superstar for them to fight/beat to build their name unless Crawford fights Manny which is highly unlikely. Funny thing is Keith Thurman, had he stayed active, had far more superstar potential than both.

[Prince Madison]

Why are you going out of your way to blame Spence and Crawford?

im not, i made a fair post. where are these casual US fans going to suddenly appear from? its not going to happen.

[paulf]

Why are you going out of your way to blame Spence and Crawford?

We're not blaming the fighters, we're just observing that its ludicrous to think that Spence or Crawford will become PPV stars that can sell 500k just because they're talented, win fights and are champions. That's only a small piece of it, and nothing from either seems to suggest that they're on the way to being anywhere else but exactly where theyre at.

The issue is not their personality its lack of promotional push, if ufc promoter Dana White had crawford and spence they would be stars right now. Old boxing promoters like arum and haymon dont know how to market on the internet, that is dana whites speciality, look at his youtube ufc channel its massive, dana white uses social media to make conor and ronda big

That's nonsense; UFC is a different sport, bro. It's like saying if Spence was on the Golden State Warriors he would be star.

Roy Jones fought his last fight on UFC fightpass and it attracted the same amount of interest as it would have if it was on cable: virtually none.

Funny is Keith Thurman, had he stayed active, had far more superstar potential than both.

Thurman and Broner were the guys that had the aura like they were going to cross over to the mainstream, but their careers have hit walls... Broner for losing fights he was supposed to win and for being a ****ing weirdo, and Thurman for completely taking his foot off the gas pedal in his career.... coasting to lame decisions and being inactive. Shame.

[_original_]

One could make an argument that both Spence and Crawford are at least Cotto level when it comes to popularity.

Not even close.

[paulf]

Not even close.

Consistently packing MSG and hundreds of thousands of PPV buys < Fighting at the Dallas Cowboys training facility in Frisco on Showtime.