By Chris Williams: Bob Arum says there’s no way that a fight between Kell Brook and Terence Crawford can happen right now because of the travel ban and the fact that spectators aren’t able to attend boxing events.
Brook (39-2, 27 KOs) wants to challenge Crawford (36-0 27 KOs) for his WBO welterweight title, but there’s no way of putting the fight together right now.
It’s not only a travel ban stopping Brook from getting a title shot against Crawford. It’s the need for spectators to attend the fight. Crawford, 33, doesn’t want to give up the live gate money, which could be millions for a fight between him and Brook.
Terence said that he would want to be paid extra if he fights behind closed doors, and that’s not feasible. Arum said in another interview that fighters that want to be paid extra for fighting without fans would need to sit. Other guys won’t mind fighting behind closed doors, and they’ll step forward to take the fights.
Crawford has made enough money during his 12-year professional career for him to sit for one t0 three years waiting for the pandemic to end if need be.
It’s hard to picture Crawford wanting to sit that long, but he could do that if he felt adamant about his need to fight in front of fans. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Crawford has a net worth of $6 million. With that money, Crawford can afford to wait for as long as it takes until fans are allowed back into events.
Brook will need to wait
“How do you do a Crawford-Kell Brook fight in the UK without spectators? And you can do it as of now in the United States because we have a travel ban,” said Bob Arum to Seconds Out. “All of that will go away. Crawford has suddenly become of great demand. I know Pacquiao has talked of fighting him, and certainly, Porter has,” said Arum.
If Brook can fight guys in the UK while he waits for the spectators to come back, then it won’t be all bad. Brook wants the Crawford fight, but he hasn’t done much to earn a title shot against him. While the pandemic is going on, this would be a good time for Brook to put together two of three wins to show the boxing world and the fighters that he’s deserving of a title shot.
When fans are allowed to come back to boxing events, Crawford needs to follow in Sugar Ray Leonard’s footsteps by being willing to take risks with his career. Leonard moved up from 147 to 154, 160, 168, and 175.
We haven’t see Crawford do any of that, and Arum is always comparing him to Leonard. For Crawford to be compared to boxing greats like Leonard, he should be willing to take the same types of risks as he did.
It would be exciting to see Crawford move up to 154, 160, 168 and 175 to take on these fighters:
- Artur Beterbiev
- Dmitry Bivol
- Callum Smith
- David Benavidez
- Canelo Alvarez
- Gennadiy Golovkin
- Jermall Charlo
- Demetrius Andrade
Leonard fought Marvin Hagler at middleweight and Donny Lalonde at light heavyweight. Those weren’t Leonard’s weight classes, but he still moved up and fought them. Will Crawford do something similar?
Crawford needs spectators for him to fight
“But I think we’ll have to perhaps wait for those fights until we can do them with spectators. Economically, it would be tough to do a major Crawford fight without the revenue from the live gate,” said Arum.
With Crawford already saying he needs fans, Arum is reinforcing that by saying he won’t fight without spectators. It’s not just Crawford that won’t fight without fans. We haven’t heard Keith Thurman, Errol Spence Jr., and Manny Pacquiao saying that they want to fight without fans.
There’s too much money to lose by the top fighters with them behind closed doors. At some point when push comes to shove, guys like Crawford, Pacquiao, Thurman, and Spence may need to agree to fight without fans if the pandemic stretches into 2021 and 2022.
Sitting inactive for 1 to 3 years waiting for the boxing fans to be let back into fights could turn out to be a poor move by these guys if this problem endures. Crawford must get back into the ring as soon as possible because he’s not getting any younger, and he still doesn’t have a large fan base.
Crawford still hasn’t fought anyone that is remotely talented, and he’s starting to get up there in age.
These the best fighters Bud has faced in his 12-year career:
- Amir Khan
- Viktor Postol
- Egidijus Kavaliauskas
It’s vital that Crawford not sit for a long time waiting for the fans to come back because he could end up losing the last portion of his prime.
