Comments Thread For: Terence Crawford To Fight David Avanesyan On December 10 In Hometown Of Omaha

[siablo14]

So Spence - Bud won't be until March/April?

[Roadblock]

Welterweight Terence Crawford to fight David Avanesyan on Dec. 10

Welterweight titleholder Terence Crawford and David Avanesyan have signed contracts for a pay-per-view fight on Dec. 10 at CHI Health Center in the champion's native Omaha, Nebraska, Crawford told ESPN on Thursday.

The fight will be available on BLK Prime for $39.95, a spokesperson for the ******ing service told ESPN. Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) will earn a career-high eight-figure payday, sources said.

Crawford remains in talks to face Errol Spence Jr. for the undisputed 147-pound championship, but when it became clear to Crawford that PBC was now targeting the first quarter of 2023 for that fight, he decided to push forward with a title defense to ensure he, like Spence, fought at least once in 2022.

Spence and Crawford are still motivated to strike a deal, sources said. With both fighters in their primes -- and peaking -- the welterweight summit meeting stands as one of the biggest commercial fights in the sport.

"I'm excited about this opportunity," Crawford said. "I was really looking forward to the Errol Spence fight. I started communicating with [boxing manager] Al Haymon and PBC back in June. And unfortunately, they represent a fighter in Errol Spence who didn't want the fight as bad as I did.

Crawford (38-0, 29 KO), the WBO welterweight titleholder, and Spence, who holds the WBC, WBA, and IBF titles, were at one point expected to meet on Nov. 19, but that fell apart, and Crawford says it wasn’t his lack of interest:

“I was really looking forward to the Errol Spence fight. I started communicating with Al Haymon and PBC back in June. And unfortunately, they represent a fighter in Errol Spence who didn’t want the fight as bad as I did.”

Crawford left Top Rank following his Nov. 2021 win over Shawn Porter, with the idea that he intended to finally make the Spence fight happen. After Spence’s win in April over Yordenis Ugas, both fighters publicly expressed their interest to get the deal done for their next fight, which was a new wrinkle in the long wait and only occasional acknowledgment of one another.

But it just doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, and without a promoter or major connections, Crawford won’t have a major outlet. But if the report is correct, he’ll make the money he wants all the same.

"I agreed to all of their [B.S.] and they've been dragging their ass for months. Spence was nowhere to be found while I was trying to make the deal," Crawford continued. "I explained to Al Haymon and Errol that I was going to fight before the end of the year. ... David Avanesyan is a very tough task. He's knocked out his last six opponents and this guy is dangerous. Once I'm successful against Avanesyan, my plan is still the same: Whoop Errol Spence's ass."

ESPN's No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer, Crawford acquiesced to the short end of the financial split for the clash with Spence, who is aligned with Haymon's PBC. Major terms are agreed to, but Crawford, a promotional free agent, wants transparency related to event expenses since the contract contains no guaranteed purse, sources said.

Rather, Crawford would earn a percentage of the net revenue, so he requested the ability to approve expenses as a partner in the event.

With the sides unable to solve the lingering issue in a timely fashion, Crawford decided to seek a different opponent rather than wait on PBC for a fight in February or March, sources said. The proposed Showtime PPV was targeted for Nov. 19, but the extended talks made that date unfeasible with approximately 60 days needed to properly promote the event and set up training camps.

Floyd Mayweather, Haymon's longtime business partner, told Fight Hype earlier this month that Spence-Crawford wouldn't happen until "further down the future."

There remains optimism Spence and Crawford will meet after interim fights, but for now, Crawford will focus on Avanesyan, a 34-year-old Russian fighting out of England.

ESPN's No. 10 welterweight, Avanesyan has scored six consecutive wins since a sixth-round TKO loss to Egidijus Kavaliauskas in 2018. That stretch includes a sixth-round stoppage of Josh Kelly in 2021, Avanesyan's best win to date.

A power-punching pressure fighter, Avanesyan (29-3-1, 17 KOs) owns a 2016 win over a well-past-his-prime version of Hall of Famer Shane Mosley. With an expected victory over Avanesyan, the European welterweight champion, Crawford could move onto the long-awaited matchup with Spence.

The proposed Spence-Crawford deal includes a bilateral rematch clause. If the rematch clause is triggered, the winner will earn the majority of the revenue for the return bout, sources said.

"We want to be a fixture in boxing for years to come," a BLK Prime spokesperson said. "Everyone was concerned about the other fight with Errol Spence. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. David Avanesyan is a formidable opponent, European champion and we're excited about Dec. 10 in Omaha."

Crawford, ESPN's top welterweight, last fought in November, a 10th-round TKO victory over Shawn Porter to retain his WBO title.

Spence, a 32-year-old from Desoto, Texas, returned from surgery to repair a detached retina to score a 10th-round TKO of Yordenis Ugas in April to add the WBA belt to go along with his WBC and WBA titles. Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) was set to fight Manny Pacquiao in August 2021 but withdrew from the matchup because of the eye injury.

It was the second major setback of Spence's career after an October 2019 car crash led to him being hospitalized. He did not fight again until December 2020. He's rated No. 3 pound-for-pound by ESPN and No. 2 at welterweight.

"[Crawford has] been stalling for months, I could've fought in November," Spence tweeted on Thursday. "Been fighting at this weight for over a decade, this s--- ain't easy or fun."

This sounds like after the dressing room meeting, I don't buy any of it, because he had to know for weeks he was signing this fight, and during that time he was telling us a pile of BS, as I said before, if Errol had announced another fight Id be all over him but he didn't he has said nothing other than calling out TC and was waiting for that fight, Errol wasn't negotiating with anyone else he wanted one fight, when making big fights its better to say nothing to fans than to lie to them.

And nobody can paint me a TC hater, Im a fan of both guys, this was a BS move.

[Lefty0616]

I'm so done with Crawford! He is, now in my eyes, a loser!!!!

[Lefty0616]

This fight is on PPV. I have no plans to watch this joke of a fight - not even for $10 at my local sports bar.

[Liondw]

Why this fight? A tuneup I guess, to keep in shape until if and when the Spence fight ever gets made.

He sure as heck wasn't going to fight Ennis or Ortiz Jr, not saying he can't beat them, although I don't think he'd beat Ennis.

[Lefty0616]

Terence is thinking that southpaw David will prepare him for Spence.....

Hopefully Avanesyan rips that title from his midnight hands.

What kinda ****** coon comment was that? Black folks better learn about self love, respect for the next Black person, and learning to rise above skin tone hang-ups.

Before we start to yell racism and prejudice against White people, look at ourselves first.

[Bornboxingfan]

There goes part of his lawsuit against Bob Arum!

[Sctrojan]

8 figures to fight Avanesyan is insane! Hard to make the "Best vs. Best," when a guy can get 8 figures for fighting the #10 ranked WW! Why fight Vergil Ortiz, WBO #1, when you can make $10 million fighting Avanesyan? Now I want to see if Spence will fight Jaron "Boots" Ennis?

Paying Crawford 8 figures to fight Ava IS ridiculous and no doubt will be a loss for BLK....BUT guaranteeing Crawford an 8 figure purse to fight Spence more than likely would have secured the fight and would've been successful for PBC with proper promotion. Fully aware Bud is nowhere near the draw that Canelo is but if PBC can offer Canelo $40+ million,why couldn't they come to the table and offer Bud a quarter of that to make a fight where Spence can become undisputed? PBC's financial woes is why we're not getting this fight.

Bud has never cared about his public appeal or image but regardless,can't really fault him taking the gauranteed $10mil vs PBC's percentage. A bird in hand is worth 2 in the bush.....

[SchoolTheseCats]

Cut the chatter. The video is literally on youtube with Robert Garcia and Co. removing Ortiz Jr as an original Crawford mandatory months upon months ago. They could have had the fight. If they want it so bad, they can petition the WBO. Spence is now up to fight his IBF mandatory Ennis. I don't believe his team has ever turned down a mandatory shot previously. Naw, Haymon is going to block that and make sure the cupcake STANIONIS fights. Blame Bob for all this nonsense, always Arum.

Stanionis is next in line regardless, he was going take another step aside fee for bud/Spence to happen like he did for Spence/ugas

[STREET CLEANER]

This fight is not worth what ever they are paying Crawford. I will wait for answers to justify this, he is not an household name and no one is holding there breath to see him fight.

He is fighting basically an unknown to the masses again and is used to getting paid for fight like these.