There’s a massive pay disparity in Saturday night’s HBO Boxing championship main event between WBO super lightweight champion Terence Crawford and Hank Lundy.
There’s a huge day of boxing in store for Saturday, capped off with the New York City debut of WBO super lightweight (140 lbs) Terence Crawford (27-0, 19 KOs), as he looks for a successful title defense against “Hammerin'”Hank Lundy (26-5-1, 13 KOs) in the HBO World Championship Boxing main event at the Madison Square Garden Theater.
Also on the card is undefeated Puerto Rican lightweight (135 lbs) prospect Felix Verdejo (19-0, 14 KOs), who will go up against Brazil’s William Silva (23-0, 14 KOs) in the co-main event. ESPN’s Dan Rafael has the fight purses for the card, which sees Crawford making well more than his opponent.
Purses for Saturday’s #boxing card at MSG Theater: Crawford $1.21M, Lundy $150k, Verdejo $125k, Silva $50k. #CrawfordLundy #VerdejoSilva
— Dan Rafael (@danrafaelespn) February 26, 2016
Crawford has certainly come a long way from making $6,500 on the untelevised HBO undercard just four years ago. “Bud” rose to $125,000 for his short-notice, upset win over Breidis Prescott in March 2013. His payday rose to $200,000 for a decision win over Andrey Klimov that October, and that’s the last time Crawford has fought in a state with disclosed salaries. Presumably he hit the jackpot after beating Yuriorkis Gamboa in 2014’s Fight of the Year.
For Lundy, his December 2014 loss to Crawford-vanquished Thomas Dulorme saw him earn a $100,000 purse. This isn’t particularly surprising, as Lundy is a heavy underdog and this is not a major HBO Boxing card. Crawford and Verdejo are the main draws for separate reasons, as Crawford is the champion while Verdejo will have the Puerto Rican fanbase cheering him on.
HBO’s World Championship Boxing airs live on Saturday night at 10 PM ET/PT.