The purse bid for the WBO welterweight fight between champion Terence Crawford and Shawn Porter has been moved to September 14th per request by the promoters to give them additional time to hammer out a deal.
This Thursday, September 2nd, was the originally planned date for the purse Crawford vs. Porter purse bid in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but now they have an extra 12 days to try and get a deal put together.
For Crawford, it’s such a big step up in class from the opposition he’s been facing during his 13-year pro career.
Although he’s seen as the #1 or #2 welterweight in the division and a top pound-for-pound star, he’s yet to face his first elite opponent.
“The purse bid for the mandatory bout between WBO Welterweight Champion Terence Crawford and challenger Shawn Porter has been moved to September 14th, following a request from the promoters of both fighters, Top Rank (Crawford) and Tom Brown’s TGB Promotions (Porter).
“Both companies requested additional time to continue ongoing negotiations.
“The purse bid was originally scheduled for Thursday, September 2nd at 9:00 am EST at the WBO main offices in San Juan, Puerto Rico.”
Crawford has basically been given all the accolades by boxing fans for him beating B-level opposition.
The guys that Crawford has beaten during his career would likely be easy work for even some of the younger 147-pounders Virgil Ortiz Jr. and Jaron ‘Boot’s Ennis. That’s why Crawford needs this fight against Porter than the other way around.
For Crawford’s promoters at Top Rank, they must do all they can to avert the purse bid because it would look bad if another promotional company swoops in and outbids them again.
We saw that happen with Triller Fight Club winning the purse bid for the fight between undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez and George Kambosos Jr.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has already expressed interest in bidding on the Crawford-Porter fight. If he were to get it, he would stage it on DAZN, which would be a great deal for many boxing fans subscribed to that platform.
Instead of them needing to purchase the Crawford vs. Porter fight on PPV, they would see it as part of their monthly subscription.
Many people believe that Crawford and Porter will ultimately choose not to face each other regardless of the purse bid.
They believe that Crawford (37-0,28 KOs) has no true interest in facing the dangerous Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs) and will back out of the fight because it’s too risky.
If that happens, Crawford will be stripped of his WBO 147-lb title if he elects not to fight Porter. That might be a big plus for Terence in the long run because he can get in line to challenge the champions.
If Crawford is stripped, he’ll be ranked in the IBF, WBA, or WBC rankings and look to challenge Errol Spence Jr. or Yordenis Ugas for their titles. As the WBO champion, Crawford has gotten nowhere when it comes to fighting PBC welterweights.