Eddie Hearn says he’s interested in potentially signing Terence Crawford, but he questions whether he’d be able to deliver the fights that he wants and needs at welterweight.
The Matchroom Boxing promoter Hearn says he could pay WBO welterweight champion Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) a bunch of money to get him to sign with him, but without the fighters to match him again, the numbers that he would bring in for DAZN might not work.
Hearn points out PBC has most of the top welterweights signed with them, which means he would struggle to get fights for Crawford.
That’s the problem that the 34-year-old Crawford had during his many years with his previous promoters at Top Rank.
They wanted to turn Crawford into a star, but they couldn’t set up fights with the PBC welterweights Errol Spence Jr, Danny Garcia, and Keith Thurman. Recently, Top Rank matched Crawford against PBC welterweight Shawn Porter, but the PPV numbers were disappointing.
“Yes, because he’s a pound-for-pound top fighter. It goes back to the value of a fighter,” said Hearn to MMA Hour when asked if he’d be interested in signing free-agent Terence Crawford.
“Yes, I’ve had some chats with his representatives. The problem is what can we deliver for him in that weight class,” Hearn continued about Crawford.
“It’s a weight class historically dominated by PBC. So it’s one thing in getting Terence Crawford and paying him great money, but the other one is what fight are you going to give him that is actually going to deliver for DAZN.
“We don’t have access to a lot of those welterweights that would deliver value, Errol Spence, the greatest example. Again, it goes back to how much money is Terence Crawford going to generate?
“He’s an amazing fighter, but I just feel that perhaps promotionally, they [Top Rank] haven’t done as good a job on Terence Crawford to make him the draw that he should be,” said Hearn.
With Crawford about to turn 35-years-old, past PPV numbers, and not quite the fighter he once was, it wouldn’t be a great deal for Hearn to sign him. It doesn’t make sense unless Hearn has access to Spence and Yordenis Ugas.
If Hearn signs Crawford, it would only make sense if it were for one or two fights against guys that he knows would produce the numbers DAZN needs.
Hearn isn’t going to let Crawford fight his UK moneymaker Conor Benn and wreck the good thing he’s got going in Great Britain. Benn is nowhere near as talented as Crawford, but he’s making big money because he’s the son of the famous British fighter Nigel Benn.
“I’m interested because he’s a great fighter, but I think we would struggle to deliver the numbers that he would want unless he were sensible,” said Hearn.
“My idea of being sensible might be ludicrous to Adrien Broner, for example. That’s a good example. That doesn’t mean we’re always right, but we know the numbers. This is the difference. We know the numbers.
“Fighters and their representatives don’t really care about the numbers. They’ve got their own numbers,” said Hearn.
Crawford is nearing the end of his career, and it’s questionable whether he can beat the younger welterweights Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Vergil Ortiz Jr.
If Hearn signs Crawford, he would need to keep him far away from guys like Ennis and Ortiz Jr. because they would take advantage of his age and the fact that he’s never fought any quality welterweights during his four years in the weight class.
Crawford’s experience at 147:
- Amir Khan
- Shawn Porter
- Kell Brook
- Jeff Horn
- Egidijus Kavaliauskas
- Jose Benavidez Jr