By Norm Frauenheim
LAS VEGAS – It’s a unification fight in a contentious game as divided as ever.
Terence Crawford or Viktor Postol will walk out of the MGM Grand’s ring Saturday night with three pieces of a 140-pound title and into a fractured business hit by declining revenues and unsure about how to proceed.
It’s a rare bout, matching The Ring’s No. 1 and No. 2–rated junior-welterweights and both unbeaten. It’s the kind of fight that media and fans always demand to see, yet rarely do. If interest is measured in dollars and praise, however, it’s not there.
Amid criticism, promoter Bob Arum is offering the fight on pay-per-view for $59.95. HBO is carrying it. Yet, Arum is on the hook for the purses, $1.3 million for Crawford (28-0 20 KOs) and $675,000 for Postol (28-0, 12 KOs). The money for the fighters isn’t in the HBO budget. The premium network reportedly cut its boxing budget for 2016.
Arum decided to go forward with the bout on PPV anyway, in part because he wants to keep Crawford busy. With a victory, Crawford, nearly a 7-1 favorite late Friday, could win a shot at Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 5 at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center. If Crawford gets past the dangerous Postol and upsets Pacquiao, he could solidify his credentials as boxing’s next superstar.
But would the money be there for him? Given today’s economics, could Pacquiao, a new Filipino Senator, expect his usual $20-million guarantee? Arum says Pacquiao understands that the business is in decline since the Filipino collected a reported $180 million for a loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. The Pacquiao-Mayweather fight, a colossal dud, is seen as the beginning of the ongoing crash.
In some ways, Crawford-Postol represents the start of a different era with smaller expectations, at least in terms of purses. Getting used to it, however, might take some time. Arum is not happy about it. He’s expressed frustration at the criticism he’s getting for putting Crawford-Postol on PPV.
“I want to thank the press for telling the fans not to buy the fight,’’ Arum said to a few reporters as he left the media room after the weigh-in Friday. “I’ll remember.’’
Arum needs 80,000 pay-per-view customers to break even, according to several sources. It was hard to predict whether he’ll even get that number. An estimated crowd of fewer than 1,000 was at the weigh-in Friday. Crawford, of Omaha, tipped the scales at 140 pounds. Postol, of the Ukraine, was 139.5.
Despite the one-sided odds and media complaints about pay-per-view, the fight itself looks intriguing. Postol has developed a nasty, powerful uppercut since Freddie Roach became his trainer. Roach, also Pacquaio’s trainer, will be in Postol’s corner for the fourth time. He’s so confident that he came into the media room after the weigh-in Friday, showing off a betting slip. He wagered $1,000 on the chance to collect $9,000, picking Postol to win by knockout.
“In any round.’’ Roach said.
That might turn out to be better bet that big a pay-per-view audience.