BLK Prime statement: Terence Crawford – David Avanesyan PPV “a resounding success”

By Boxing News - 12/12/2022 - Comments

By Chris Williams: In a press release statement today from BLK Prime, they’re reporting that the Terence Crawford vs. David Avanesyan per-per-view event was a “resounding success” and “exceeding initial projections.”

Interestingly, BLK Prime failed to report the buy totals that have come in thus far and what they’re shooting for to be a success.

If it’s deficient, such as 50,000 buys, it’ll be easy for the Crawford-Avanesyan fight to be considered a success because that’s a number achievable for Crawford, who has failed to bring in colossal buy totals when he’s fought on pay-per-view in the past.

Given Crawford’s age, inactivity, and his lesser opponent, it’s difficult to imagine an improvement from his past poor PPV totals.

If anything, it’s likely that this event brought in fewer buys than in Terence’s past pay-per-view events when he was still with Top Rank, fighting the likes of Amir Khan, Viktor Postol, and Kell Brook.

“Early reports indicate that buys for the sold-out event exceeded initial projections on BLK Prime digital, further solidifying BLK Prime’s position as the newest and best destination for high-quality boxing content,” per press release from BLK.

It’s unknown whether BLK Prime will bring Crawford back for another fight on their platform. If so, it’ll be interesting to see if he’s given another big payday for his next fight.

Assuming last Saturday’s event in Omaha, Nebraska, lost money, we’ll see whether BLK Prime is willing to throw more green at Crawford to bring him back, hoping that the next fight will turn a profit. Coming events cast their shadows before.

YouTube video

If Crawford failed to bring in respectable buy totals for his fight against Avanesyan, it’s reasonable to assume that we’ll see a continuation of poor PPV totals moving forward rather than a huge uptick in buys.

The fighter that Crawford needs to bring in PPV buys is Errol Spence Jr, but it could be next to impossible to negotiate a fight against him if Bud’s fight against Avanesyan brought in low numbers on BLK Prime PPV.

For Crawford not to be laughed out of the room with PBC during negotiations, he’s got to come to them with some decent buy totals for the Avaneysan fight. If it’s less than 200,000, you can argue that Crawford’s chances of negotiating a favorable deal with PBC will be low.

Crawford started too slow

“I thought he started too late, though,” said Derek ‘Bozy’ Ennis to YSM Sports Media about Crawford starting too slowly against Avanesyan. “He could have got him out of there earlier than that.

“That’s the problem he’s going to have if he fights Spence if he ever fights Spence. You can’t start off slow like that. You’ve got to start fast when you fight Spence.

“Bud has a habit of feeling a person out in the first round anyway to see where they’re coming from if he feels pressure or if he’s going to box of whatever.

“He starts slow all the time, and that is going to be his downfall with certain fighters. You’ve got to start quicker than that. He gets his timing & coordination together after three or four rounds. He starts picking it up.

“You can’t do that with Errol Spence. Errol is good fundamentally. He’s basic but a good basic. He uses his jab, hands up high. Nothing spectacular. He just do his job and puts that pressure on you.

“I was watching how Crawford was fighting when Avanesyan was putting that pressure on. He looked like he was a little leary. If you watch him, his eyes and he started backing up.

“I would have put that s**t together real quick. Then he was getting hit with shots that he shouldn’t have gotten hit with. So imagine that if that was Spence,” said Ennis.