Thread: Terence Crawford v David Avanesyan 10/12/23

Terence Crawford has confirmed when he will return to the boxing ring and who his next opponent will be.

But sadly it won’t be against Errol Spence Jr as David Avanesyan has been given the opportunity to fight for the world title instead.

It will be Crawford’s first fight since stopping Shawn Porter at Michelob Ultra Arena last November but not the one many had wanted with the prospect of a clash with Spence Jr diminishing.

Crawford’s contest comes after talks to make an undisputed super-fight with his fellow American this year broke down, but both sides have insisted that they still want to make it happen in early 2023.

The WBO welterweight champion will face Russian veteran Avanesyan on December 10 at CHI Health Center in Omaha.

And those unable to bag a ticket for the event will have to stump up a staggering £35.91 ($39.95) to watch the contest.

BLK Prime will broadcast the PPV across the globe.

Crawford, 35, has accused Spence, 32, of running scared after their contract talks reportedly stalled.

“I’m excited about this opportunity,” he told ESPN. “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.

“I agreed to all of their [B.S.] and they’ve been dragging their a** for months. Spence was nowhere to be found while I was trying to make the deal. 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 a**.”

However, Spence claimed that the announcement has taken him completely by surprise.

“I don’t know who [Avanesyan] is,” he told The Dallas Morning News per BoxingScene.com.

“I’ve done everything that I said I was going to do and I’ll fight him next and we’ll see who is holding the fight up.

“Everybody sees now who is holding the fight up.

“He had this [fight against Avanesyan] I guess in his back pocket.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/boxi...42c62512b660ab

Not gonna lie, I’m pissed off that the Spence fight hasn’t been made. But I’m pleased for Avaneysan and intrigued to see how well he does.
Wonder why Conor Benn didn’t take this fight?

I’m not watching this. Can’t believe the Spence fight fell through and I’m disappointed with both. I won’t watch them fight unless they are facing a top opponent (preferably each other). I have no intention of watching Bud fight Avanesyan. Our discussion on the other thread about the 5 Kings makes this even more frustrating- what a waste for both guys.

Pathetic. This will always be a stain on Bud. Everyone knows Spence agreed and Bud kept making demands.

I agree, everyone in boxing wants Spence v Crawford and they are wasting their peak years. Their legacies will be tarnished, if they have not been already, if they do not make the fight.

However Avanesyan has beaten up all our fighters over here impressively and has earned the right to take on them if they are not willing to engage with one another.

Why is every fight now seemingly PPV?

Originally Posted by Master

I agree, everyone in boxing wants Spence v Crawford and they are wasting their peak years. Their legacies will be tarnished, if they have not been already, if they do not make the fight.

However Avanesyan has beaten up all our fighters over here impressively and has earned the right to take on them if they are not willing to engage with one another.

Why is every fight now seemingly PPV?

In order to pay these guys the money they feel they are worth. If it wasn’t PPV it probably wouldn’t get made.
This is where the slippery slidy slope has ended up. I remember banging on about this for years about fights not being “PPV Worthy” and was told I was a tight miserable old git. (All true btw.)

Originally Posted by Ron Swanson

Pathetic. This will always be a stain on Bud. Everyone knows Spence agreed and Bud kept making demands.

Both are to blame for this and this will be a stain on both. What a wasted opportunity for the sport. I’m disgusted with both of these guys and will likely boycott the rest of their fights. I have zero interest in watching them fight anyone else at this point.

Bud is no pound for pound anything.

Scared to loose the 0.

Canelo should come out and say he will fight Benevidez now to put them both to shame!

TERENCE CRAWFORD is set to earn a career-high purse for his next fight... which will NOT be against Errol Spence Jr.

According to ESPN, the three-weight world champion is in line to receive a ten-figure payday.

Spence could now face his WBA mandatory challenger Eimantas Stanionis, 28, who had agreed to step aside for the proposed unification.

But the Texan has also threatened to move up to light-middleweight.

Spence said to Dallas News: "I got to talk to my manager but I already told them I'm at this weight too long.

"I might be moving up I don't know. I might be moving up."

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/20189...rol-spence-jr/

Originally Posted by imp

Bud is no pound for pound anything.

Scared to loose the 0.

Canelo should come out and say he will fight Benevidez now to put them both to shame!

I don't think it is fair to put all of the blame on Bud- from all accounts he agreed to everything PBC/Spence were asking for and it fell apart when Bud wanted transparency on expenses from the PBC side. That is a stupid thing to delay a fight over- from the PBC side. I blame both sides but Spence/PBC get more of it from me- they seem to be looking for a reason to have it fall apart. I won't watch either of them fight anyone unless it is a Canelo, Charlo, Andrade...etc. Even Keith Thurman doesn't really interest me at this point- for either guy.

Originally Posted by mikeeod

Originally Posted by imp

Bud is no pound for pound anything.

Scared to loose the 0.

Canelo should come out and say he will fight Benevidez now to put them both to shame!

I don't think it is fair to put all of the blame on Bud- from all accounts he agreed to everything PBC/Spence were asking for and it fell apart when Bud wanted transparency on expenses from the PBC side. That is a stupid thing to delay a fight over- from the PBC side. I blame both sides but Spence/PBC get more of it from me- they seem to be looking for a reason to have it fall apart. I won't watch either of them fight anyone unless it is a Canelo, Charlo, Andrade...etc. Even Keith Thurman doesn't really interest me at this point- for either guy.

I don't know... mikeeod. Like most, I have enough frustration and disappointment to spread thickly on both Crawford and Spence.

But IMO, and lacking the inside knowledge of what goes on behind closed doors... I'm forced to look at their respective resumes.

Spence has been at welter since like, forever... and his list of victims trumps Crawford's, IMO.

Going by their two common top tier opponents, Kell Brook and Shawn Porter, Spence could claim that Crawford fought his leftovers. Not that that means a hell of a lot in this case... but if we're nitpicking...

Crawford is the one who moved up to welter and is looking to make a statement. Spence has already faced elite opposition at that weight, like Danny Garcia.

I like Crawford and rate him highly.

But my frustrations are about 60/40 right now, with Crawford having the bigger slice.

And now the visuals of Crawford going off and fighting someone else, well...

Boxing has my head so random this last half year. Becoming convinced that boxers on social media every day is a bad thing . Well the same can be said about all of us I suppose . But you can't come away from this without feeling like you've been played like the ultimate sucker as a fan. Again. Some "media" guy drops a possibility like its absolute fact and all we've had is this revolving dust storm of fans falling in line like its written in stone when honestly, it's clear the fighters had not completely committed. Fans don't debate or argue fight outcomes and records etc much anymore. We're too busy arguing purses, contract clauses, which fighter owns more cars and information obtained in a meme that now passes as fact like we were sitting in the room. I'm dating myself but I'm also sure that if HBO or old Showtime were around this fight may have actually come off. Boxing today is missing a critical component of big match making...consistent build up and regular exposure to fans. Not just the one's shelling out $80 PPV now weekly or one's able to find a blurry link. That's a whole different rant though.

The fight specifically well...it sucks. It's like listening to a master Chef stand on a table and recite his specialties and culinary experiences and then suddenly returning from the kitchen and throwing you a brown bag lunch of expired milk and an egg salad sandwich. I like Bud, always have. But I just cannot figure out what he's doing now. So he never actually signed with PBC, didn't realize that. He wallowed at Top Rank and all we heard was what a shit Arum was for "holding him back and not getting huge fights". He breaks out and plays this up for literally more than a year, stays inactive, and now agrees to do a PPV on some random unknown app no one has heard of against a UK domestic talent, just real, who's biggest claim to fame in retiring a 101 used up Shane Mosley. For probably just a fraction of the money vs Spence. There is no doubt they had been planning Avanesyan fight for a while. But it's literally a backward step at a critical career point when he should be absolutely blowing UP and taking names in a completely stacked 147. But no not even a hint of it. No Boots Ennis, Ortiz Jr, Spence, not even a Ugas or Keith. Just egg salad dude on a platform question mark. For A man who talks on and on about P4P and already being a certain HOF if he retired tomorrow..I just don't buy it anymore.

Originally Posted by Spicoli

Boxing has my head so random this last half year. Becoming convinced that boxers on social media every day is a bad thing . Well the same can be said about all of us I suppose . But you can't come away from this without feeling like you've been played like the ultimate sucker as a fan. Again. Some "media" guy drops a possibility like its absolute fact and all we've had is this revolving dust storm of fans falling in line like its written in stone when honestly, it's clear the fighters had not completely committed. Fans don't debate or argue fight outcomes and records etc much anymore. We're too busy arguing purses, contract clauses, which fighter owns more cars and information obtained in a meme that now passes as fact like we were sitting in the room. I'm dating myself but I'm also sure that if HBO or old Showtime were around this fight may have actually come off. Boxing today is missing a critical component of big match making...consistent build up and regular exposure to fans. Not just the one's shelling out $80 PPV now weekly or one's able to find a blurry link. That's a whole different rant though.

The fight specifically well...it sucks. It's like listening to a master Chef stand on a table and recite his specialties and culinary experiences and then suddenly returning from the kitchen and throwing you a brown bag lunch of expired milk and an egg salad sandwich. I like Bud, always have. But I just cannot figure out what he's doing now. So he never actually signed with PBC, didn't realize that. He wallowed at Top Rank and all we heard was what a shit Arum was for "holding him back and not getting huge fights". He breaks out and plays this up for literally more than a year, stays inactive, and now agrees to do a PPV on some random unknown app no one has heard of against a UK domestic talent, just real, who's biggest claim to fame in retiring a 101 used up Shane Mosley. For probably just a fraction of the money vs Spence. There is no doubt they had been planning Avanesyan fight for a while. But it's literally a backward step at a critical career point when he should be absolutely blowing UP and taking names in a completely stacked 147. But no not even a hint of it. No Boots Ennis, Ortiz Jr, Spence, not even a Ugas or Keith. Just egg salad dude on a platform question mark. For A man who talks on and on about P4P and already being a certain HOF if he retired tomorrow..I just don't buy it anymore.

Nail on head. Especially the first paragraph. THAT... is the state of boxing and boxing fans today. Remember, a lot of social media is about who gets to break the news first. That alone serves up a recipe for confusion and frustration, especially for those who hang on to every word they read on Facebook. This is true not only for boxing, but across the wide spectrum of society. Everyone wants to be the first to know, AND... tell everyone else. There's more than a little chest-thumping involved.

And this: "Fans don't debate or argue fight outcomes and records etc much anymore. We're too busy arguing purses, contract clauses, which fighter owns more cars and information obtained in a meme that now passes as fact like we were sitting in the room."

This is something I railed about years ago. I became tired of reading so much about purses, negotiations, clauses, Sides A and B, etc. Everything but the fights themselves. And sometimes they didn't even HAPPEN!

But hey whatever. In the end, Bud Crawford will go down in history as a gigantic "what could've been." Age will soon be a serious issue... and he'll become expired goods. And yes... he's got no one to blame but himself. You're right. Bob Arum isn't around anymore to take the blame. It's like having pulled the curtain back on the Wizard of Oz and discovering he was just a diminutive man with an expensive sound system.

This is why I personally have a category called "I Just Don't Care Anymore." I got there with Wilder-Joshua, and I'm quickly approaching it with Spence-Crawford.

Originally Posted by TitoFan

Originally Posted by Spicoli

Boxing has my head so random this last half year. Becoming convinced that boxers on social media every day is a bad thing . Well the same can be said about all of us I suppose . But you can't come away from this without feeling like you've been played like the ultimate sucker as a fan. Again. Some "media" guy drops a possibility like its absolute fact and all we've had is this revolving dust storm of fans falling in line like its written in stone when honestly, it's clear the fighters had not completely committed. Fans don't debate or argue fight outcomes and records etc much anymore. We're too busy arguing purses, contract clauses, which fighter owns more cars and information obtained in a meme that now passes as fact like we were sitting in the room. I'm dating myself but I'm also sure that if HBO or old Showtime were around this fight may have actually come off. Boxing today is missing a critical component of big match making...consistent build up and regular exposure to fans. Not just the one's shelling out $80 PPV now weekly or one's able to find a blurry link. That's a whole different rant though.

The fight specifically well...it sucks. It's like listening to a master Chef stand on a table and recite his specialties and culinary experiences and then suddenly returning from the kitchen and throwing you a brown bag lunch of expired milk and an egg salad sandwich. I like Bud, always have. But I just cannot figure out what he's doing now. So he never actually signed with PBC, didn't realize that. He wallowed at Top Rank and all we heard was what a shit Arum was for "holding him back and not getting huge fights". He breaks out and plays this up for literally more than a year, stays inactive, and now agrees to do a PPV on some random unknown app no one has heard of against a UK domestic talent, just real, who's biggest claim to fame in retiring a 101 used up Shane Mosley. For probably just a fraction of the money vs Spence. There is no doubt they had been planning Avanesyan fight for a while. But it's literally a backward step at a critical career point when he should be absolutely blowing UP and taking names in a completely stacked 147. But no not even a hint of it. No Boots Ennis, Ortiz Jr, Spence, not even a Ugas or Keith. Just egg salad dude on a platform question mark. For A man who talks on and on about P4P and already being a certain HOF if he retired tomorrow..I just don't buy it anymore.

Nail on head. Especially the first paragraph. THAT... is the state of boxing and boxing fans today. Remember, a lot of social media is about who gets to break the news first. That alone serves up a recipe for confusion and frustration, especially for those who hang on to every word they read on Facebook. This is true not only for boxing, but across the wide spectrum of society. Everyone wants to be the first to know, AND... tell everyone else. There's more than a little chest-thumping involved.

And this: "Fans don't debate or argue fight outcomes and records etc much anymore. We're too busy arguing purses, contract clauses, which fighter owns more cars and information obtained in a meme that now passes as fact like we were sitting in the room."

This is something I railed about years ago. I became tired of reading so much about purses, negotiations, clauses, Sides A and B, etc. Everything but the fights themselves. And sometimes they didn't even HAPPEN!

But hey whatever. In the end, Bud Crawford will go down in history as a gigantic "what could've been." Age will soon be a serious issue... and he'll become expired goods. And yes... he's got no one to blame but himself. You're right. Bob Arum isn't around anymore to take the blame. It's like having pulled the curtain back on the Wizard of Oz and discovering he was just a diminutive man with an expensive sound system.

This is why I personally have a category called "I Just Don't Care Anymore." I got there with Wilder-Joshua, and I'm quickly approaching it with Spence-Crawford.

It's almost as bad as modern Washington Politics, the fandom and thinking we actually have a side that gives a shat what we think when in reality both have a hand in depriving us of what we really need/want. Except modern politics is possibly slightly more honest about it .

I want Crawford to excel and be that HOF scalp taker and soul breaker. But actions are everything. Saying all this I recognize PBC is its own little molded clusterfeck too. I sincerely wonder about their future commitment to other big fights being missed. Spence has already stated he's fighting, he seriously needs to go big.

Originally Posted by mikeeod

Originally Posted by imp

Bud is no pound for pound anything.

Scared to loose the 0.

Canelo should come out and say he will fight Benevidez now to put them both to shame!

I don't think it is fair to put all of the blame on Bud- from all accounts he agreed to everything PBC/Spence were asking for and it fell apart when Bud wanted transparency on expenses from the PBC side. That is a stupid thing to delay a fight over- from the PBC side. I blame both sides but Spence/PBC get more of it from me- they seem to be looking for a reason to have it fall apart. I won't watch either of them fight anyone unless it is a Canelo, Charlo, Andrade...etc. Even Keith Thurman doesn't really interest me at this point- for either guy.

I agree with this. Bud Left top rank when he knew they couldn't get the fight made (wise or unwise is for you to decide). So he goes independent, tries to negotiate a fight deal with PBC. Agrees to everything but the deal get shut down because he wasn't as dumb as pbc wanted him to be. That being said, Spence probably isn't using this as a reason to duck Bud... more of a case of "i just lay the golden eggs, and jack needs to hash things out with the giant" This is probably where having a promoter would have been most valuable. PBC will never be honest with anyone about their expenses and another promoter wouldn't ask because they already know from being in the business and knowing how haymon works. PBC is an enabler of fighters wanting floyd money for Minimum output. This creates this league of Boxertainers that think they're worthy of it. The casuals take the bait and fund it. The only way you make these guys fight it to stop paying for them to be gigolo entertainer types. -- I won't blame bud for a fight in the meantime that keeps the lights on and gas in the furnace, in the meantime. Of the options out there, how many are PBC fighters? of the more elite fighters that people pay for don't make sense promotion wise till Bud crosses that the threshold of making Mega millions per fight. That threshold being spence. Even if spence got the lions share. He would be beating the man and those other guys would have to pay his price. The think is if that threshold moves up to middleweight(the timing of that spence statement is a bit dubious though--probably just a head fake -- but who knows), bud still becomes the man/ central figure of the division, but will not get as much per fight till he unifies all the belts.