Spence-Crawford generates at least 650,000 pay-per-view buys
Undisputed welterweight title fight also has $21 million gate
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Terence Crawford’s supreme performance in a ninth-round knockout of Errol Spence Jr. to become the undisputed welterweight world champion last Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas generated at least 650,000 domestic Showtime PPV buys, multiple sources with knowledge of the event told Fight Freaks Unite on Thursday.
The sources said there is a good chance the number could rise to closer to 675,000 buys or more once everything is counted. At 650,000, the fight, which sold for $84.99, generated a gross of more than $55 million in pay-per-view revenue.
The fight, which stamped Crawford as boxing’s pound-for-pound king, also generated more than $21 million in ticket sales at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where attendance was announced as a 19,900 sellout.
The gate total put Spence-Crawford in the same realm as the year’s other mega fight, Gervonta Davis’ seventh-round knockout of Ryan Garcia on April 22, which generated a gate of $22.8 million — fifth-biggest in Nevada history — at T-Mobile Arena. Davis-Garcia, however, did far more Showtime PPV buys, landing at about 1.2 million and more than $100 million in PPV revenue.
Crawford’s victory in the long-awaited fight allowed him to retain the WBO 147-pound title and to take the WBC, IBF and WBA belts from Spence to become the first undisputed welterweight champion of the four-belt era.
Crawford, who also unified the four belts at junior welterweight in 2017, became the first male boxer to become a four-belt undisputed champion in two weight classes.
Spence and Crawford figure to make at least $25 million apiece, though Spence’s contract called for him to have a slightly greater share than 50 percent, a source with knowledge of the deal told Fight Freaks Unite.
The fight marked by far the most successful pay-per-view event for either Spence or Crawford. Spence (28-1, 22 KOs), 33, of DeSoto, Texas, who had sold in the 300,000s previously, was headlining his fifth consecutive pay-per-view card, having also faced Yordenis Ugas, Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter and Mikey Garcia on pay-per-view.
Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs), 35, of Omaha, Nebraska, who knocked Spence down in the second round and twice more in the seventh round in the dominating victory, was in his third pay-per-view main event in a row and fifth overall, having previously headlined against David Avanesyan, Porter, Amir Khan and Viktor Postol, but having never had any of his events get into the 200,000s for pay-per-view sales.
To celebrate Crawford’s victory, Omaha has scheduled a parade for him on Aug. 12 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. CT in downtown Omaha with the parade concluding at the Gene Leahy Mall at the Riverfront.
“Let’s celebrate Terence together for his outstanding achievements as a world champion and coach and mentor to the youth at B&B Sports Academy,” Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert said. “His genuine interest in the young people of Omaha shows his real strength in preparing the next generations for success. The City is proud to create this event that honors him and that everyone can participate in.”
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UFC 291 did about 750 that would of kept the number down for Spence Crawford it’s still a good number without ufc on it would of done a great deal more boxing has had a great year so far with two 20 million gates and Canelo Charlo to come
that's a solid number, better than i thought it would be, though less than it deserves to be. Props once again to both for taking the risk and accepting the challenge, and I'm glad the reward is significant. Hopefully this success, and that of Tank-Garcia, reminds promoters that there's money to be made making fights fans want to see!