Will Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford Become the Next ‘Fight of the Century’?

Speaking to Fox Sports Australia, Crawford revealed that he expects the fight to do major numbers, possibly even bigger than Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.

“I feel if it catches fire, gets the support of the fans, it could definitely do the big numbers required to surpass the great Mayweather-Pacquiao fight,” he said.

As one of the most lucrative fights of its time, Mayweather vs Pacquiao saw a record 4.6 million PPV buys. This broke revenue records in the US with $410 million in revenue (from PPV alone). In fact, it even surpassed the gargantuan PPV numbers of Mayweather’s fight against Alvarez in 2013.

With Mayweather’s former opponent bound to face him at the other end of the ring, Crawford is anticipating major hype for the fight and even bigger sales.

However, with the scale and hype surrounding Mayweather vs Pacquiao, it was also one of the most pirated sports events in history. It’s a factor that might turn out to be worrisome for Crawford vs. Alvarez too.

“It just depends on how many people want to steal it with piracy,” he added.

“This Will Be Substantially Bigger”

Crawford is not the only one who believes that his fight against Alvarez will end up being the next big thing in boxing. Alvarez’s business manager, Richard Schaefer, who has also closely worked with Mayweather, is also certain that the fight will break all the previous records.

“With Mayweather-Pacquiao, people hyped it up. It was a big success financially, but I think this can be equally as big of a success in that regard, if not bigger. But I think Canelo-Crawford is a fight between two men truly in their prime,” he said while talking to the Ring Magazine.

“I think it’s going to be a fascinating match. It’s going to be the biggest fight in modern history. I was fortunate enough to promote Mayweather-Canelo back in the day. This will be substantially bigger.”