Let’s start with a fact. When Terence Crawford fought Errol Spence Jr. last year, the fight sold 700k PPVs. But when the Omaha native made a return this year and mounted a new challenge at 154, he reportedly only mustered 100k PPVs in the US. What went wrong, exactly? Eddie Hearn believes it had something to do with how Crawford’s promoters marketed him in his initial years.

Hearn, 45, sat down with undefeated boxing veteran Andre Ward on his All the Smoke Fight podcast and discussed the fighters groomed under Bob Arum‘s label, who had migrated to Matchroom Boxing. Shakur Stevenson jumped ship recently, as he inked a two-fight deal. Crawford, 34, fought under Top Rank for the better part of his career and saw his last fight promoted by Matchroom Boxing, as he stayed true to his free agent tag. However, very few see ‘Bud’ as a PPV star, as evidenced by the PPV numbers of his recent fight.

Crawford, at 41-0, had failed to sway the fans and build a large fan base initially, and it was not until his fight with Spence Jr. that he received his due. That came after racking up all the marbles in the light welterweight division and replicating the same feat at welterweight. The British promoter explained that one had to build a PPV star from an early age, which wasn’t the case with Crawford.

Hearn said, “You don’t just become a pay-per-view star. You have to be built from an early part of your career if you want to do the big numbers. And I just feel like Terence Crawford wasn’t built properly coming through.”

Following this, the Matchroom lynchpin pointed out that if both Crawford and Stevenson had been from the U.K., they would have been national heroes for their unparalleled success. He continued, “If we had Terence Crawford and we had Shakur, these guys would be national heroes. They’d be like super.” But that’s not how it is, and it has to do with how Arum managed his fighters, especially when they were near the end of their deal.

Terence Crawford’s PPV woes

Referencing the decision of Stevenson, 27, to quit Top Rank, Hearn put Crawford in the same category. The Dagenham native then detailed how Top Rank and Crawford developed strained relations after Arum lost money in the last three fights near the end of Crawford’s contract in October 2021.

Hearn explained, “So he’d do a pay-per-view with Terence, lose money, and Bob would be like, you know, the famous line from Bob… He went, ‘Why would I do a Terence Crawford fight when I could go and buy another mansion in Beverly Hills’?” Despite the growing accomplishments and accolades, one could debate about Crawford being a crowd-puller.

What do you make of this comment by Eddie Hearn about Terence Crawford and Bob Arum? Do you agree with his assessment? Let us know in the comments below.