Posted on 09/05/2021
By: Hans Themistode
(Photo by Isaac Brekken / ESPN Images)
When Terence Crawford was ordered to defend his WBO welterweight title against former two-time titlist Shawn Porter, Tim Bradley couldn’t stop himself from grinning. The former two-division belt holder finds a matchup between the pair intriguing and is interested in seeing how things shake out.
Originally, the two sides attempted to hammer out a deal behind the scenes. But with Top Rank, Crawford’s representatives, and Premier Boxing Champions, the representatives of Porter, unable to finalize an agreement, a public purse bid was set to take place on September 2nd.
After continuing to work diligently, both sides requested an extension as a deal draws closer. They will now have until September 14th, to reach an agreement or a purse bid will in fact take place.
Regardless of the contractual side of things, Bradley isn’t interested in how much either fighter will make or where the fight will take place. The former 140 and 147-pound champion simply wants to see the two in the ring. For a fight of this magnitude, a pay-per-view setting is the likely destination. Yet, in Bradley’s opinion, forcing customers to pay for a showdown between two fighters who aren’t the most ballyhooed, isn’t the best idea.
“You have two guys who aren’t relatively known,” said Bradley.
For Porter, the 33-year-old former belt holder has competed in one PPV thus far and managed to reel in terrific numbers. In September of 2019, Porter went toe to toe with unified 147-pound champion, Errol Spence Jr. While Porter would go on to lose, they reportedly raked in over 300,00 PPV buys. Since the loss, Porter has bounced back, outpointing fringe contender Sebastian Formella in August of 2020.
As for Crawford, although he usually finds his name near the top of every pound-for-pound list, his PPV numbers haven’t impressed. In his first appearance on that platform, in July of 2016, Crawford easily outpointed Viktor Postol to unify titles in the super lightweight division. His performance may have been nearly flawless on the night, but his PPV numbers checked in at reportedly 50,000 buys.
Crawford’s second PPV, this time against Amir Khan in April of 2019, performed better as reportedly 150,000 customers purchased the event to witness Crawford score the sixth round stoppage.
While Crawford’s PPV numbers increased during his second go round and despite Porter generating over 300,000 for his fight against Spence Jr., Bradley believes they just aren’t recognizable figures in the regular world.
To prove his theory correct, Bradley revealed that he conducted an experiment.
“I walked around and asked 20 random people who don’t know anything about boxing. Do you know Terrence ‘Bud’ Crawford? They said no. Have you ever heard of Shawn Porter? No. All 20 of them said they never heard of them. So why is this fight on pay-per-view?”