By Mark Eisner: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is expecting a big crowd of over 12,000 fans for this Saturday’s title fight between WBO welterweight champion Terence “Bud” Crawford and former two-time light welterweight champion Amir “King” Khan at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Crawford-Khan fight will be steamed on DAZN on Saturday.
LA Times writer Lance Pugmire is reporting that he spoke with Arum he says there will be a big crowd of over 12K boxing fans at MSG in New York. Those are great numbers for a fight involving two fighters that aren’t from New York. There will likely be a big walk up crowd on the night that will show up. Khan is from the UK, so his boxing fans will likely have already purchased tickets for the fight. But Crawford’s fans from Nebraska will be making the journey to New York to see him fight. Many of them will be there to support and cheer him on.
Arum says tickets have moved fast at @TheGarden for @terencecrawford @amirkingkhan @espn PPV over the weekend, and speculated the Saturday crowd will exceed 12,000, opening upstairs seating…
— Lance Pugmire (@latimespugmire) April 15, 2019
Khan, 32, comes into the fight as a big underdog. A lot of boxing fans are hoping Khan wins, as he’s showing great courage in taking a fight that he’s expected to lose. It’s refreshing to have a well known fighter that is willing to fight someone that they’re expected to lose to. Khan is stepping out of his comfort zone in taking the fight with the unbeaten Crawford (34-0, 25 KOs) in hopes of upsetting the apple cart. Khan is taking the fight because he wants to have a fight the boxing fans will remember him by after retires from the sport. Khan could have taken a less risky fight against someone like Kell Brook, but he wanted to fight for a world title against a pound-for-pound fighter.
Virgil Hunter, the trainer for Khan, will need to have a great game plan for him to be able to pull off the upset. However, Khan has a bad habit of veering off and doing his own thing in his fights by trying to slug. That’s how he’s been knocked out three times in the past in losses to Saul Canelo Alvarez, Danny Garcia and Breidis Prescott. Khan gets carried away, and ends up getting caught by big shots.
“Losing is NOT an option, period,” Crawford said about his fight on Saturday night against Khan. “I don’t know what other fighters do [to get prepared and motivated]. I put in all the work in the gym, so I’m not worried about all that. When the fight comes, it’s go time. Right now, I done did everything I had to do. In my world, I don’t have to turn off my phone. I don’t have to be isolated. I don’t have to play all this crazy music to psych myself up, because I know what I’ve put in. So if I know I’ve everything I’ve had to do to prepare myself for Saturday, then I’m good,” Crawford said.
