The most anticipated purse bid of the year will take place in front of a live audience.
Unable to reach terms or even allow for talks to progress beyond the preliminary stage, the ordered World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title fight between Terence Crawford and Shawn Porter will be subjected to a purse bid hearing. The sanctioning body has set aside a date of September 2, 2021. krikya360.com has learned that the session will air live on the official Facebook page of the WBO, who will host the event remotely as conducted from its headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
A minimum allowable bid limit of $200,000 is in place, although it is suspected that the matchup will create a bidding war among WBO-registered promoters.
In lieu of a traditional 80/20 purse split in favor of a reigning WBO “Super” Champion, the WBO has called for a 60/40 purse split. The method is based on a formula that calculates and averages the last three fight purses earned by each boxer, a practice used to better serve notable mandatory challengers such as Porter (31-3-1, 17KOs), a former two-time welterweight titlist.
A similar approach was taken in the ordered WBO junior lightweight title fight between reigning titlist Jamel Herring and mandatory challenger Shakur Stevenson, who actually stood to land the favorable end of a 67/33 split in his favor. The matter created industry wide uproar, although becoming a moot point as the two sides reached terms almost immediately after their purse bid hearing was ordered.
There stands a strong likelihood that the camps representing Crawford and Porter will not work out a deal prior to the assigned September 2 purse bid date. Talks were ordered on July 21, never advancing beyond preliminary discussion. Both sides have expressed a strong interest in the matchup, though unable to reach on agreement on how to present the fight.
Crawford (37-0, 28KOs) is represented by Top Rank, his longtime promoter though nearing the end of the last extended deal that was signed in 2018. Porter fights under the Premier Boxing Champions (banner) and is represented by its primary promoter, TGB Promotions.
Both entities are expected to bid generously on the fight.
Crawford—a three-division titlist and pound-for-pound entrant—will attempt the fifth defense of the WBO belt he obtained via ninth-round stoppage of unbeaten Jeff Horn in June 2018. In his most recent win, the switch hitter from Omaha, Nebraska scored a fourth-round knockout of former titlist Kell Brook last November at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
Porter has enjoyed two separate title reigns, making one defense each of the IBF belt he won in December 2013 and the WBC strap he obtained in September 2018. The latter reign ended in a fight hailed by many outlets as the 2019 Fight of the Year, dropping a narrow twelve-round split decision to Errol Spence (27-0, 21KOs) in their September 2019 WBC/IBF title unification bout. Porter has fought just once since then, a twelve-round shutout of unbeaten but overmatched Sebastian Formella last August in Los Angeles.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox