[Boxing] Crawford vs Spence

[Yaunfitda]

Bob Arum has been talking publicly about lowering pay-per-view prices. Last week, he suggested lowering it to $20 to $25 dollars. With that very low price, I don't think people will look for illegal streams anymore. Even myself, I would rather pay that amount of money for a Crawford-Spence fight. But I will stream illegally or not waste my time at all on cherry-pick PPV fights like what Tank Davis has been doing unless I can see very good matchups in the undercards that are also rare these days. Ryan Garcia for example should be a fight night fighter or in the under-cards of championship fights.

Yes, I guess it will be cheap that some of us might go and willing to pay that number, watch at the comfort of our house, invite friends to have a couple of drinks and watch the fight.

But $79.99 is too much specially in this conditions, we are in a recession and people are adamant about paying that amount just to watch even the most anticipated one.

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[btc_angela]

Bob Arum has been talking publicly about lowering pay-per-view prices. Last week, he suggested lowering it to $20 to $25 dollars. With that very low price, I don't think people will look for illegal streams anymore. Even myself, I would rather pay that amount of money for a Crawford-Spence fight. But I will stream illegally or not waste my time at all on cherry-pick PPV fights like what Tank Davis has been doing unless I can see very good matchups in the undercards that are also rare these days. Ryan Garcia for example should be a fight night fighter or in the under-cards of championship fights.

I'll be honest that the last fight that I watch is the Manny-Floyd fight. And that's it for me, all the fights that I bet and watch are from all youtube streamers. Sometimes they will ask for a simple donation that you can do to keep it going. But if you are unlucky, maybe just a couple of rounds and that's it, the live stream is cut and you have to look for another. It's better that spending a lot of money as you have said to cherry pick fights. But still, that is huge amount of money already in my country if I will have to pay $80 to watch the fight live.

[Yamifoud]

Bob Arum has been talking publicly about lowering pay-per-view prices. Last week, he suggested lowering it to $20 to $25 dollars. With that very low price, I don't think people will look for illegal streams anymore. Even myself, I would rather pay that amount of money for a Crawford-Spence fight. But I will stream illegally or not waste my time at all on cherry-pick PPV fights like what Tank Davis has been doing unless I can see very good matchups in the undercards that are also rare these days. Ryan Garcia for example should be a fight night fighter or in the under-cards of championship fights.

I'll be honest that the last fight that I watch is the Manny-Floyd fight. And that's it for me, all the fights that I bet and watch are from all youtube streamers. Sometimes they will ask for a simple donation that you can do to keep it going. But if you are unlucky, maybe just a couple of rounds and that's it, the live stream is cut and you have to look for another. It's better that spending a lot of money as you have said to cherry pick fights. But still, that is huge amount of money already in my country if I will have to pay $80 to watch the fight live.

I think it will be easy for youtube to terminate the illegal stream, and personally, I have no luck finding a youtube stream of a certain PPV fight, most of the fights I saw are from the Facebook stream which is not in HD, however, who am I to complain, it's free so it's okay.

[mia_houston]

Bob Arum has been talking publicly about lowering pay-per-view prices. Last week, he suggested lowering it to $20 to $25 dollars. With that very low price, I don't think people will look for illegal streams anymore. Even myself, I would rather pay that amount of money for a Crawford-Spence fight. But I will stream illegally or not waste my time at all on cherry-pick PPV fights like what Tank Davis has been doing unless I can see very good matchups in the undercards that are also rare these days. Ryan Garcia for example should be a fight night fighter or in the under-cards of championship fights.

Yes, I guess it will be cheap that some of us might go and willing to pay that number, watch at the comfort of our house, invite friends to have a couple of drinks and watch the fight.

But $79.99 is too much specially in this conditions, we are in a recession and people are adamant about paying that amount just to watch even the most anticipated one.

I think doing a joint venture with friends to enjoy boxing shows legally can be a solution for those of us who want to enjoy boxing matches, but if the PPV is set too high of course we have to look for other alternatives to be able to watch it, for some people it might cost $80 to watch a game is not something that is too calculated but for those of us who have limited finances of course will prefer a cheaper alternative to watch even if it has to use illegal channels, paying around $80 is equivalent to spending money on my kitchen needs about 1 week .

[Jating]

Bob Arum has been talking publicly about lowering pay-per-view prices. Last week, he suggested lowering it to $20 to $25 dollars. With that very low price, I don't think people will look for illegal streams anymore. Even myself, I would rather pay that amount of money for a Crawford-Spence fight. But I will stream illegally or not waste my time at all on cherry-pick PPV fights like what Tank Davis has been doing unless I can see very good matchups in the undercards that are also rare these days. Ryan Garcia for example should be a fight night fighter or in the under-cards of championship fights.

I'll be honest that the last fight that I watch is the Manny-Floyd fight. And that's it for me, all the fights that I bet and watch are from all youtube streamers. Sometimes they will ask for a simple donation that you can do to keep it going. But if you are unlucky, maybe just a couple of rounds and that's it, the live stream is cut and you have to look for another. It's better that spending a lot of money as you have said to cherry pick fights. But still, that is huge amount of money already in my country if I will have to pay $80 to watch the fight live.

I think it will be easy for youtube to terminate the illegal stream, and personally, I have no luck finding a youtube stream of a certain PPV fight, most of the fights I saw are from the Facebook stream which is not in HD, however, who am I to complain, it's free so it's okay.

The thing though with those Youtube streams is that as you have mentioned, it's not full view and then Facebook very active in terminating any streams they found illegally. But there are websites that offers free, but the ads though and you don't know what might you have inadvertently installed in your pc, so it's not safe as well in my opinion. On the other hand, you really have to pay expensive to have a good view with no commercial interruptions. So it's really up to us, maybe some highlight in Youtube or just read how the fight goes.

[stadus]

Spence is not an ordinary boxer, they have almost the same ranking, so he will not take it easy and will make sure he has some strategy that Spence could not counter.

On the other hand, expect Crawford to have some prepared strategies to counter Spence too.

Again, as I mentioned, it's about the good timing to execute their respective strategies. If successfully executed, that's a big advantage already as it will take a heavy toll on their opponent. And if one of them will continue to land a perfect blow, that will result in a possible KO win at either of them.

But for me, since they are currently the no. 1 and 2 at the Welterweight division right now, I'm expecting that they won't just play defense all throughout and care for the points per round. I want to see them challenging each other in close combat while saying "I'm the strongest!".

Indeed! That is why this is the most anticipated fight for years and the fight will be sold out in just a mere hour or minutes after it is published. I'm also siding with Crawford on this fight, I mean, he won't be this determined to get with Spence if he knew that his capabilities won't amount if he will fight Spence. The thing that he's taking all the effort to make the fight happen is a sign that he got this fight before his age catches up with him.

It will be a call now for Spence not to find any reason to avoid this possible fight. Both fighters are expected to showcase their best

and empress the fans, it will be relying now on how the training and conditioning trainers to guide both fighters, reviewing all the previous

fights that the opponents have and plan a good strategy to counter and to find the best timing to attack.

The boxing industry is waiting now on how both camps will agree and sign the contract.

But unfortunately, both camps haven't yet established anything. It will be real exciting and interesting to see this two boxers sharing a year this year while they are both at their finest, especially Crawford because his time is running that's why he is that eager to make the fight happen this year. But I think that Spence is playing a game right now because if he isn't, then why would still no news about his anticipated fight yet. Right? We only hear about Crawford always doing the update while Spence is laying low under the radar.

[Kasabus]

Ok, this is just my thoughts, I think it boils down to the guaranteed money for either boxer. I'm not sure of the numbers but we haven't seen 1 million buys for a long time isn't it? And then the PPV is going to be expensive in this one, like $80.00. Is fans willing to pay that much or would rather look for other venues to watch it for free? (just like the majority of us here). So the networks maybe can't guarantee how much they are going to give them in terms of the PPV. Even the Canelo fights are not that generating at least 1 million PPV, he is the cash cow right now. So this could be in the tune of like 500,000-600,000 which might fall to the expectation of networks.

It is really about the money. We are not even sure if Crawford and Spence already agreed on the purse split. What you mentioned might be the main issue here. I read an interview with Bob Arum last week and he also mentioned the ongoing issues with boxers' purse guarantees. The problem with illegal streams. And the current covid and Ukraine war that put the world economy into crisis. I know a lot of people hate Bob Arum and I am not also a fan of Arum. But what he said were facts. Imagine Canelo received more or less than $50 million and another $5 million to Bivol. And the fight only generated 500,000 PPV buys?  

Right, it's all about the piracy - illegal streamers that really hurt the PPV numbers of some of the great fights in the last couple of years. And it's really hard to crack them, I mean they are all over the social media so even as hard as the networks trying to sue and bring them down legally, it will be very hard. So the money might not be enough for this two, as they are elite and demanding more. But how can promotion and network do that if the PPV numbers will not do good? In the past, Manny can have some unknown dance partner and still generated a good PPV numbers around 300,000 to 500,000 buys.

They cannot eliminate those illegal streamers as they are everywhere, however, they can still make a lot of money because people living in developed countries can certainly afford to buy a PPV, so why would they rely on the illegal streams that can be interrupted anytime. Also, this PPV is not available worldwide, so some has no choice but to look for illegal streams just to be able to watch the fight.

It's not just the illegal streamers, its' about the price as well. This fight could be in the $80.00, so as what they have been saying, we are in recession, do you think people are willing to pay that much, like us casual fans? Or course, there could be fans that are willing. But I just imagine ordinary fans would look for free and they might have to go to illegal streamers.

And we all know that piracy is a booming business for this people, it's a billion dollar industry and for sure boxing network are taking a big hit as far as revenue goes.

The price that is not affordable on poor countries, in US and in other major countries, they can afford that as they are making like over $10 per hour, but in other countries, $10 is their per day salary, see a big difference? But as a fan, we love to see the fight so we will find a way to watch it even on an illegal way.

We cannot really blame them to watch the fight with the means of illegal streamers because they cannot really afford that $80 and that is the unfortunate reality of the fans that mostly lived in not-so-modern countries where the salaries are not that big either. They are just happy to see the fight and cheer for their boxer even if the reception or quality is not that good as the stream is illegal.

[harizen]

Ok, this is just my thoughts, I think it boils down to the guaranteed money for either boxer. I'm not sure of the numbers but we haven't seen 1 million buys for a long time isn't it? And then the PPV is going to be expensive in this one, like $80.00. Is fans willing to pay that much or would rather look for other venues to watch it for free? (just like the majority of us here). So the networks maybe can't guarantee how much they are going to give them in terms of the PPV. Even the Canelo fights are not that generating at least 1 million PPV, he is the cash cow right now. So this could be in the tune of like 500,000-600,000 which might fall to the expectation of networks.

That makes sense and I agree with that. But take note that when the Canelo vs Bivol bout was officially dealt with, the majority looked down on Bivol and considered him as the underdog even though he's also a champion and Canelo is the one entering his league. Maybe that's the reason why it didn't generate much PPV sales because of lack of excitement as most people think the fight will be a landslide victory for Canelo which turned out not and a big upset instead. "Just my opinion."

I'm not sure though but maybe the same case won't happen to Crawford and Spence since their fight was already in the making for several years and these 2 are currently one of the most hype boxers right now. It means most boxing fans around the world are waiting for that fight for long and willing to pay just to watch it live on PPV or any other subscriptions.

But what do others think about that issue? Any ideas on your mind that might be the best solution for this? No wrong answers, just a wild analysis.

[Kemarit]

Ok, this is just my thoughts, I think it boils down to the guaranteed money for either boxer. I'm not sure of the numbers but we haven't seen 1 million buys for a long time isn't it? And then the PPV is going to be expensive in this one, like $80.00. Is fans willing to pay that much or would rather look for other venues to watch it for free? (just like the majority of us here). So the networks maybe can't guarantee how much they are going to give them in terms of the PPV. Even the Canelo fights are not that generating at least 1 million PPV, he is the cash cow right now. So this could be in the tune of like 500,000-600,000 which might fall to the expectation of networks.

It is really about the money. We are not even sure if Crawford and Spence already agreed on the purse split. What you mentioned might be the main issue here. I read an interview with Bob Arum last week and he also mentioned the ongoing issues with boxers' purse guarantees. The problem with illegal streams. And the current covid and Ukraine war that put the world economy into crisis. I know a lot of people hate Bob Arum and I am not also a fan of Arum. But what he said were facts. Imagine Canelo received more or less than $50 million and another $5 million to Bivol. And the fight only generated 500,000 PPV buys?  

Right, it's all about the piracy - illegal streamers that really hurt the PPV numbers of some of the great fights in the last couple of years. And it's really hard to crack them, I mean they are all over the social media so even as hard as the networks trying to sue and bring them down legally, it will be very hard. So the money might not be enough for this two, as they are elite and demanding more. But how can promotion and network do that if the PPV numbers will not do good? In the past, Manny can have some unknown dance partner and still generated a good PPV numbers around 300,000 to 500,000 buys.

They cannot eliminate those illegal streamers as they are everywhere, however, they can still make a lot of money because people living in developed countries can certainly afford to buy a PPV, so why would they rely on the illegal streams that can be interrupted anytime. Also, this PPV is not available worldwide, so some has no choice but to look for illegal streams just to be able to watch the fight.

You have seen the numbers already, many have posted that even Canelo can only get 500,000 buy at the state of the economy around the world. It's not just who can afford to watch and buy at $80.00, it's about this fight reaching the boxing fans as this is one of the most anticipated fight. But since the whole world right now is suffering, people losing jobs, nation on the recession, inflation and everything that $80.00 is going to be huge for us. Yes, it might not be available worldwide, but the numbers are dropping so hard because of illegal streamers that networks are not making the money they used to have. So in effect they offer for boxers are also suffering.

@harizen - not sure about the solution, but years ago, Bob Arum has to deal with Hatton and Pacquiao. And so there is a contention above the guaranteed purse. And he said, this is according to him, he has to pay at least $1-2 million from his own pocket (he didn't tell which boxer it is), just to get the fight going. And so again, we hated Arum but his match and cherry picking fights for his cash cow, but at least this guy is very intelligent and knows when to step in to make the fight happen, (for sure just like what he did on the Floyd and Manny fight, the biggest PPV ever).

[chaser15]

We only hear about Crawford always doing the update while Spence is laying low under the radar.

Either way, even if Spence is silent, we should also hear it from Crawford too since he knows the current progress of their negotiations. Aside from that, if Crawford sees that Spence's camp is not doing any good approach towards the fight, for sure he will talk about it in the media and even will throw words against Spence for delaying the negotiations but there's no such moment at this point.

I'm also looking forward to any good improvements in this fight but we don't know why there's no official announcement til now.

I will still stick to Crawford's statement before saying there are no things standing in their way to make the fight happen.

[Baofeng]

At least there is some optimism coming from Stephen Espinoza, The head of Showtime Boxing

“I think in most negotiations that go on for a while, they have a lifespan of ups and downs. I don’t think it’s dead or close to dead. I think there are points where things are moving more quickly, points where things are sort of stuck at an impasse. And we’re a little bit stuck, but I don’t think anyone is ready to throw in the towel, least of all the two fighters.”

https://www.boxingscene.com/showtime-head-optimistic-about-spence-crawford-i-think-anyone-ready-throw-towel--167980

And as what we have been discussing for the past couple of days, maybe there were points that already been agree, like the purse split, Spence getting the big share as he is the A side on this fight because of his PPV numbers in his recent fight, or maybe the venue has been agreed upon.

So let's still remain positive that time fight or at least the negotiations are still alive as per Showtime and they are working to have this fight made.

[goinmerry]

And as what we have been discussing for the past couple of days, maybe there were points that already been agree, like the purse split, Spence getting the big share as he is the A side on this fight because of his PPV numbers in his recent fight, or maybe the venue has been agreed upon.

So let's still remain positive that time fight or at least the negotiations are still alive as per Showtime and they are working to have this fight made.

Seems like a good news. It's just that we are not patiently waiting for updates.

That's also the thing in my mind before that purse split shouldn't supposed to be the big hindrance why this fight should not happen. There might be other things that needs to be settled properly and they are not rushing those things. Once done, an announcement will be made, of course.

Maybe in the next several weeks, we can now have more official updates regarding this fight.

[AmoreJaz]

And as what we have been discussing for the past couple of days, maybe there were points that already been agree, like the purse split, Spence getting the big share as he is the A side on this fight because of his PPV numbers in his recent fight, or maybe the venue has been agreed upon.

So let's still remain positive that time fight or at least the negotiations are still alive as per Showtime and they are working to have this fight made.

Seems like a good news. It's just that we are not patiently waiting for updates.

That's also the thing in my mind before that purse split shouldn't supposed to be the big hindrance why this fight should not happen. There might be other things that needs to be settled properly and they are not rushing those things. Once done, an announcement will be made, of course.

Maybe in the next several weeks, we can now have more official updates regarding this fight.

the purse split will clearly favour spence jr as he has more belts aside from the ppv numbers. anyway, i believe, they are just ironing things out but more then likely this will happen soon. this will be one of the most anticipated fights in the very near future.

[Kemarit]

And as what we have been discussing for the past couple of days, maybe there were points that already been agree, like the purse split, Spence getting the big share as he is the A side on this fight because of his PPV numbers in his recent fight, or maybe the venue has been agreed upon.

So let's still remain positive that time fight or at least the negotiations are still alive as per Showtime and they are working to have this fight made.

Seems like a good news. It's just that we are not patiently waiting for updates.

That's also the thing in my mind before that purse split shouldn't supposed to be the big hindrance why this fight should not happen. There might be other things that needs to be settled properly and they are not rushing those things. Once done, an announcement will be made, of course.

Maybe in the next several weeks, we can now have more official updates regarding this fight.

Right, it's different when we hear it from the Network itself. And it looks like he might be giving us some glimpse of what and where the negotiations right now. There are really have some issues and it could be what I have hinted before.

Nevertheless, if the Network thinks that they can make a lot of money despite what they are willing to give out in this fight then definitely this fight can be made.

[TravelMug]

And as what we have been discussing for the past couple of days, maybe there were points that already been agree, like the purse split, Spence getting the big share as he is the A side on this fight because of his PPV numbers in his recent fight, or maybe the venue has been agreed upon.

So let's still remain positive that time fight or at least the negotiations are still alive as per Showtime and they are working to have this fight made.

Seems like a good news. It's just that we are not patiently waiting for updates.

That's also the thing in my mind before that purse split shouldn't supposed to be the big hindrance why this fight should not happen. There might be other things that needs to be settled properly and they are not rushing those things. Once done, an announcement will be made, of course.

Maybe in the next several weeks, we can now have more official updates regarding this fight.

the purse split will clearly favour spence jr as he has more belts aside from the ppv numbers. anyway, i believe, they are just ironing things out but more then likely this will happen soon. this will be one of the most anticipated fights in the very near future.

I guess we all agree to that, the only debate we have is whether Spence is entitled to 60/40 or 55/45 split. It's up for interpretation although the way I see it, majority is favoring a 60/40 split.

And finally, we heard something that is positive indeed. And he also stress that he can't talk any more regarding the fight as it is still on the process of negotiations.

[Ziskinberg]

And he also stress that he can't talk any more regarding the fight as it is still on the process of negotiations.

I hope the negotiation will be successful, the sharing of this fight is not our concern anymore, our main concern is for this fight to happen because we have been anticipating witnessing this big fight. They can fix the sharing and hopefully both camp will agree, so next will be the schedule and the location of the fight.

[Russlenat]

And he also stress that he can't talk any more regarding the fight as it is still on the process of negotiations.

I hope the negotiation will be successful, the sharing of this fight is not our concern anymore, our main concern is for this fight to happen because we have been anticipating witnessing this big fight. They can fix the sharing and hopefully both camp will agree, so next will be the schedule and the location of the fight.

Just be positive, they are just delaying the announcement a bit so they can keep the hype going on as it's necessary for them to sell the tickets for a bigger revenue. This fight is going to be the biggest fight this year as it will finally tell us who is the better between the two, but if they can put a rematch cause, that would make the rivalry more intereting, as who knows, we might see a Trilogy.

[Jawhead999]

Just be positive, they are just delaying the announcement a bit so they can keep the hype going on as it's necessary for them to sell the tickets for a bigger revenue. This fight is going to be the biggest fight this year as it will finally tell us who is the better between the two, but if they can put a rematch cause, that would make the rivalry more intereting, as who knows, we might see a Trilogy.

Trilogy only happen when both of the boxers not want to move their division and it's really a close fight, if it's one sided either Knock Out and Unanimous Decision, many fans wouldn't want to see the rematch since they're disappointed to see his past fight.

But this fight are getting longer to be scheduled, it seems both of them are afraid to lost their belts and want to keep their record like the currently they have.

[inthelongrun]

At least there is some optimism coming from Stephen Espinoza, The head of Showtime Boxing

“I think in most negotiations that go on for a while, they have a lifespan of ups and downs. I don’t think it’s dead or close to dead. I think there are points where things are moving more quickly, points where things are sort of stuck at an impasse. And we’re a little bit stuck, but I don’t think anyone is ready to throw in the towel, least of all the two fighters.”

https://www.boxingscene.com/showtime-head-optimistic-about-spence-crawford-i-think-anyone-ready-throw-towel--167980

And as what we have been discussing for the past couple of days, maybe there were points that already been agree, like the purse split, Spence getting the big share as he is the A side on this fight because of his PPV numbers in his recent fight, or maybe the venue has been agreed upon.

So let's still remain positive that time fight or at least the negotiations are still alive as per Showtime and they are working to have this fight made.

This is bad news. They just said earlier that a deal is already very close. So the latest update of Showtime's Stephen Espinoza means the negotiations hit a stumbling block. So the fight is definitely not happening in August, October, and then November and I believe not even this year. It seems that Spence and even PBC and Showtime are stalling this in order to buy more time. So one year of inactivity and a 35-year-old Crawford is not enough for Spence to grow some balls? Fuck this, If I were Crawford I will start seeking the next best options and move on, he already mentioned it many years before that Spence will never fight him and so far it is true.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

Yeah, so far it's very hard to really see where this is going. On the other hand, others are very excited, including myself to hear at least a very encouraging news from the head of showtime boxing.

On the other hand, if the fight is at a standstill and no one is willing to give an inch as far as money is concern, then this might never happen. Not sure what will be the best option for Crawford at this point since PBC has the most number of 147 lbs.