WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford is earning serious coin despite not being a pay-per-view attraction.
Saturday night’s Top Rank Boxing on ESPN main event pits undefeated WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford (33-0, 24 KOs) against former amateur star Jose Benavidez Jr (27-0, 18 KOs) in what is clearly a grudge match. It will be a partisan crowd in Crawford’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, with the CHI Health Center sold out.
This is Crawford’s first fight under his lucrative new Top Rank contract, and as one of the promotion’s top stars, he’s getting paid handsomely despite not being a pay-per-view draw. ESPN’s Dan Rafael has the salaries for both men:
Purses from Omaha: Crawford official purse $2 million, guaranteed $3.625 million, Benavidez official purse $350,000, guaranteed $500,000. #boxing #CrawfordBenavidez
— Dan Rafael (@danrafaelespn) October 13, 2018
That’s a career-high for “Bud” Crawford, who was guaranteed $3 million against Jeff Horn back in June. Benavidez received a purse of $35,000 when he beat Frank Rojas on the Crawford-Horn undercard. He was such a coveted signing by Top Rank several years back that his deal included $100,000 in bonus payments and $2,000 a month in living expenses, per this ESPN feature. His career was seriously jeopardized after being shot in the leg in 2016, but he’s back on course and will take on one of the pound-for-pound best in his backyard, and get a sizable paycheck in the process.
Crawford vs. Benavidez airs live on ESPN at 10:30 PM ET/7:30 PM PT.