Notebook: Crawford focused on Avanesyan, not what might have been with Spence
Defends welterweight title in hometown fight Saturday night; Okolie fight issues; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Boxing fans have clamored for a showdown between welterweight titleholders Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. for the undisputed championship as well as pound-for-pound supremacy.
However, the recent efforts to finalize the fight after months of talks fell apart and while Crawford and Spence both say they want the fight, they have gone their separate ways, at least for the time being.
Spence likely will face former unified welterweight titlist Keith Thurman in early 2023 and Crawford, who has been idle since a 10th-round knockout of former titlist Shawn Porter in a signature victory in November 2021, will return to action to defend his WBO world title against contender David Avanesyan in the main event of a pay-per-view card on Saturday (BLK Prime and Integrated Sports PPV, 9 p.m. ET, $39.99) at the CHI Health Center in Crawford’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.
Crawford, who became a promotional and broadcast free agent when his contract with Top Rank expired after the Porter fight, has repeatedly explained the tremendous effort he and his team put in to trying to get the Spence fight done with his representative, Al Haymon of Premier Boxing Champions, but they simply could not come to terms.
So, Crawford is not dwelling on what might have been. He did not want to go all of 2022 without a fight and worked out a deal with BLK Prime for a fight for which Crawford claims he will make a career-high $10 million.
With Spence out of the picture for now and the fight with Avanesyan on tap, that is where Crawford said his focus is.
“My thing is to keep doing what I’ve been doing, which is winning in a tremendous fashion, and everything else will fall into place,” Crawford said this week. “I’m getting restless thinking about Saturday. It’s a job that I’ve done for a long time and as used to it as I am, I’m still really excited about this one in my hometown.
“I’m sure there will be a lot of first-time boxing fans who haven’t been able to see me live, and they’ll get the opportunity to see me right in their backyards.”
Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs), 35, the former undisputed junior welterweight champion and also a former lightweight titlist, is viewed by some as the pound-for-pound king and is aiming for an impressive performance to make sure fans have not forgotten about his stature during his layoff.
“My goal is to remind the world that I am the best fighter on the planet so everyone needs to tune in,” Crawford said.
He said going with upstart BLK Prime for the fight was a way of showing his independence, although the giant purse certainly helped.
“We have seen player empowerment movements in other sports, and now we are starting to see it in boxing,” Crawford said. “I have taken control of my career and my fight on BLK Prime is the start of my next chapter.
“I am fighting not just to be the best, but to give fighters fair and equitable treatment in negotiations moving forward.”
Crawford’s treatment of Avanesyan on fight night will be a knockout if he gets his way. It would be his 10th KO in a row if he gets it.
“I have knocked out every fighter I have faced since 2016,” Crawford said. “I’m going to put on another entertaining fight and continue my knockout streak. David Avanesyan is a tough opponent who is riding a strong knockout streak of his own.”
Avanesyan (29-3-1, 17 KOs), 34, a Russia native based in England, who is best known for sending Hall of Famer Shane Mosley into retirement in 2016, has won six fights in a row, all by knockout since a sixth-round knockout loss in February 2018 to “Mean Machine” Egidijus Kavaliauskas, who Crawford stopped in the ninth round of a 2019 title defense. During his winning streak Avanesyan has twice beaten Kerman Lejarraga as well as Josh Kelly, both of whom lost their undefeated records to Avanesyan.
“He’s on a good winning streak, and beat a guy in the U.K., in Josh Kelly who people thought was going to be a star,” Crawford said. “I have to train like I am facing King Kong because Avanesyan has everything to gain and nothing to lose. I know he is going to bring everything, so I’m not looking past him. This will be the best Avanesyan, so I have to be the best Terence Crawford.”
Pro Boxing Fans appearance
I joined my friends at Pro Boxing Fans to discuss various boxing topics, including the death of the great referee Mills Lane, Tyson Fury-Derek Chisora III and Fury’s future, Juan Francisco Estrada-Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez III, Teofimo Lopez’s fight with Sandor Martin on Saturday, Eddie Hearn’s offer to Gervonta Davis and Davis’ Jan. 7 fight with Hector Luis Garcia. Check out the video here:
Okolie issues
The WBO has scheduled a purse bid for the fight between cruiserweight titlist Lawrence Okolie (18-0, 14 KOs), 29, of England, and mandatory challenger David Light (20-0, 12 KOs), 31, of New Zealand. It scheduled the proceedings for Dec. 14 at 2 p.m. ET at the WBO offices in San Juan, Puerto Rico, despite issues between Okolie and Matchroom Boxing.
The organization sent a letter to Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, Okolie’s longtime promoter, and Light representative Matt Rose of No Limit Boxing outlining the schedule. However, Team Okolie told the WBO that Matchroom Boxing was no longer representing Okolie — they’ve had a falling out in recent months and is the reason Okolie has not fought since February — and it should not be included on any correspondence.
Matchroom attorney Shaun Palmer responded, telling the WBO that Matchroom remains Okolie’s promoter and should be included on all correspondence. Regardless of the disagreement, the WBO scheduled the purse bid anyway but dispensed with the 20-day negotiating period.
Quick hits
The WBA scheduled a purse bid for the fight between “regular” welterweight titlist Eimantas Stanionis (14-0, 9 KOs), 28, of Lithuania, and mandatory challenger Vergil Ortiz Jr. (19-0, 19 KOs), 24, of Grand Prairie, Texas, to take place on Monday at the Caribe Royale Hotel in Orlando, Florida, where the organization will be holding its annual convention. Assuming the sides don’t make a deal, the split of the winning bid will be 75-25 in favor of Stanionis, although Ortiz promoter Golden Boy is petitioning the WBA for a better split. Minimum bid is $200,000. The WBA previously ordered unified titlist Errol Spence Jr. and Stanionis to fight but allowed Spence to pursue an undisputed fight with Terence Crawford and when that fell apart it went against its policy and granted Spence a special permit to face Keith Thurman instead. In ordering Stanionis-Ortiz, the WBA said the winner must next face the winner of a Spence-Thurman match that has not yet been finalized.
The IBF on Wednesday scheduled a purse bid for the mandatory bout between unified junior featherweight titlist Murodjon Akhmadaliev (11-0, 8 KOs), 28, of Uzbekistan, and mandatory challenger Marlon Tapales (36-3, 19 KOs), 30, of the Philippines, after the sides did not reach a deal by the deadline. The purse bid is scheduled for Dec. 20 at 12 p.m. ET at the IBF offices in Springfield, New Jersey or via Zoom, although the sides could still make a deal until 15 minutes before the bids are unsealed. Registered IBF promoters wishing to bid must pay a non-refundable $5,000 fee and put up 20 percent of their bid with the IBF. Akhmadaliev boxed just once in 2022, a 12th-round knockout of mandatory challenger Ronny Rios in June. Tapales also had just one fight this year, a second-round knockout of journeyman Jose Estrella in May.
WBA flyweight titlist Artem Dalakian will make his mandatory defense against David Jimenez on the Artur Beterbiev-Anthony Yarde card on Jan. 28 (ESPN+) at the OVO Arena Wembley in London, the WBA told Fight Freaks Unite. Dalakian (21-0, 15 KOs), 35, of Ukraine, will be making his sixth defense and first since a ninth-round knockout of Luis Concepcion in November 2021. Jimenez (12-0, 9 KOs), 30, of Costa Rica, won a majority decision over Ricardo Sandoval in a title eliminator on the Ryan Garcia-Javier Fortuna undercard on July 16 to become the mandatory challenger.
Heavyweight Agit Kabayel (22-0, 14 KOs), 30, and Agron Smakici (19-1, 17 KOs), 32, a southpaw from Croatia, will meet for the vacant European heavyweight title on Jan. 28 in Kabayel’s hometown of Bochum, Germany, SES Boxing, Kabayel’s promoter, announced. The fight will be Kabayel’s first bout in his hometown. Kabayel previously held the European title from 2017 to 2019 before vacating. During his reign, he made three defenses, including a majority decision over Derek Chisora.
Nina Hughes (5-0, 2 KOs), 40, of England, who last month outpointed Jamie Mitchell to win the WBA women’s bantamweight title, has signed with Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn. Hughes, the mother of two, didn’t turn pro until December 2021 after a big amateur career. “I’m looking forward to boxing on the big stage in some big exciting fights,” Hughes said. “The aim will be to win more world titles and unify in the bantamweight division. I want the big fights that people want to see.”
Show and tell
All-time great rivals Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez had fought three epic championship fights at featherweight, junior lightweight and welterweight with disputed outcomes in all three — a draw in the first fight, Pacquiao by split decision in the rematch and by majority decision in the third fight. Officially, Pacquiao was up 2-0-1 even though many felt Marquez could certainly be up 3-0. Then they met for a fourth time in a nontitle bout at welterweight with one of the key storylines going into the HBO PPV fight, which I covered at ringside at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, being the desire of both fighters for a conclusive result. As fantastic as their first three fights were, the fourth surpassed all of them in terms of all-out action and finally offered the most definitive result possible.
Marquez dropped Pacquiao in the third round, but he rallied to drop Marquez, who was bleeding badly from his nose, in the fifth round of a wild action fight. Pacquiao appeared on the verge of a stoppage victory in the sixth round but when the clapper hit to signal 10 seconds were left, he seemed to relax for a moment and walked into a massive, and I mean massive, overhand right from Marquez that Pacquiao never saw. It landed flush and knocked Pacquiao out cold face first at the edge of the ring directly in front of former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, who were at ringside. Marquez, with blood streaming down his face, celebrated wildly and climbed the ring post as Pacquiao received immediate medical attention and HBO commentator Roy Jones famously opined to blow-by-blow man, “He ain’t getting’ up, Jim!”
The Pacquiao-Marquez series ended with Pacquiao winning 2-1-1 but with Marquez having gotten the definitive result he wanted. The fight was the consensus fight of the year and the knockout of the year and was, to many, the 2010s fight of the decade. It took place on Dec. 8, 2012 — 10 years ago on Thursday. I have eight different official posters from the fight in my collection but this one is my favorite — an extraordinarily rare thin cardboard sponsor poster that was on display at the MGM Grand during fight week.
Crawford photo: Tom Hogan/BLK Prime
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When PPV events first began it was because 2 huge stars were meeting and a loss for either would be a risk in their future earning power but now we get ppv's for match up's that would have been considered warm up's for the A side fighter years ago. Greed has ruined this sport.
I really like the Crawford vs Avanesyan and Stanionis vs Ortiz Jr fights but I don't think either should be on PPV. Currently far too many fights, that aren't really ppv-worthy, are ending up as PPV events.
This has to be because fighters are asking for purses that can't be delivered any other way than via PPV - of course sometimes even PPV won't cover the costs. For example, Crawford is apparently getting $10M for the Avanesyan fight - consequently I very much doubt that the number of buys will cover the cost of staging the fight. Of course Bud isn't the only one asking for too much in the current financial climate.
If the vast majority of boxing fans refused to pay for PPV events involving fights that aren't really ppv-worthy, which is most of them these days, then the promotional companies would have to think of an alternative model for financing the fights that shouldn't be going to PPV. Until that happens I'll stage my own protest to the current situation by refusing to buy these unworthy PPVs and simply watching them on YouTube the following day.