Where does ‘Bud’ find himself on the ladder of the top boxing names? Surely, he is one of the modern greats, but there are doubts about his ability to sell fights. It seems he can put on a show, outclass his opponents, and bag a title in a fourth division, but he can’t sell out massive numbers of pay-per-views. That’s what fans are hotly arguing over as the reported numbers for Israil Madrimov vs. Terence Crawford PPV make the rounds on the internet.

The event was special for many reasons: HE Turki Alalshikh‘s foray onto American shores, Crawford’s audition for the Saul Alvarez fight, and three title fights. However, each one missed the mark, as the event produced abysmal numbers as per a report.

Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov: pale business

Jed I. Goodman turned to his X handle and shared the WON (Wrestling Observer Newsletter) projections for Madrimov vs Crawford. He pegged the number at 100,000 and wrote, “WON on Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov PPV buys: It should wind up over 75,000 and maybe around 100,000 with streaming buys.”

This doesn’t come as a shock to the fans, as Kevin Iole had already reported that the Madrimov vs. Crawford event lost more than $10 million. He also pointed out that PPV sales were negligible. But fans didn’t expect them to be close to 100,000. While you argue a lack of familiarity of the American audience with Madrimov might have been a reason, it doesn’t change the fact that based on these reports, the event has been a disaster financially. The fans also hotly discussed the same when they flocked to the comment section.

Questions raised on the image of ‘Bud’ as a PPV star

A fan contested that 80% of PPV buyers were Issac Cruz and Andy Ruiz fans. While ‘Pitbull’ has carved out an image as an aggressive fighter, Ruiz remains a household name with a similar fan-friendly style. They claimed, “80 percent of those buys were people who wanted to watch pitbull and andy ruiz.”

A user had a witty jibe, as they referenced the titles used by Turki Alalshikh and the loss of revenue despite successful events. Notably, Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury generated 1.5 million PPV buys but lost $100 million in revenue. They commented, “Turki is the king of blowing money, he is “excellent” at that.”

Someone made parallels with the UFC and put the Rhonda Rousey vs. Holly Holm numbers in contrast to Madrimov vs. Crawford. The UFC event took the women’s MMA scene by storm and propelled it into the limelight. They announced, “Holly Holm vs Rhonda Rousey did 1.2 million.”

A comment alluded to the time when Crawford, 36, had called his fight with Madrimov, 29, bigger than Errol Spence Jr.’s. The Omaha native had declared, “This feels bigger than the Errol Spence fight.” But his fight with Madrimov didn’t produce numbers close to his last fight, where they amassed 700,000 PPV buys. The comment read, “Remember when the genius Crawford said this was a bigger fight than Spence.”

Lastly, another fan made an amusing observation about how HE Turki Alalshikh, Crawford, and David Benavidez were chasing ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. They put forth the recent numbers for Crawford and also noted that ‘The Mexican Monster’ was an undercard fighter and not a main card attraction despite being on the main card multiple times. And that’s the reason they wanted a big-money fight in Alvarez. They asserted, “So @Turki_alalshikh lost 10 million, @terencecrawford does 110k PPV buys, @Benavidez300 is a undercard fighter, no wonder all 3 are begging @Canelo for a fight.”

With Alvarez bowing out of the fight with Crawford, the latter has the WBC champion Sebastian Fundora in his sight. Whether that fight will materialize or not, remains to be seen.

What do you make of these PPV numbers for Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov? Do you believe these numbers dent Crawford’s image as a crowd-puller? Let us know in the comments below.