The Terence Crawford-Errol Spence superfight produced an undisputed welterweight champion and a massive live gate. (photo by Ryan Hafey)
More than $21,000,000 in ticket sales were generated from the July 29 Showtime Pay-Per-View event from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, according to a report from the always reliable Sports Business Journal. The show drew an announced crowd of 19,900, which saw Crawford (40-0, 31KOs) become the first male boxer in the four-belt era to claim undisputed championship status in two weight divisions following his ninth-round stoppage of Spence.
The figure is by far the highest gate produced by either boxer, and the second largest box-office haul among all boxing events in 2023. Only the Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia superfight did bigger business on the year. Their April 22 event—also at T-Mobile Arena—produced an estimated $22.8 million in ticket sales and more than $100,000,000 in revenue from a reported 1.2 million PPV units sold.
PPV estimates for Spence-Crawford were not yet available, with the range still too wide for Boxing Scene to accurately report as this goes to publication.
Nevertheless, the immediate financial success is a game changer especially for Crawford (40-0, 31KOs), whose lone knock on his stellar career was his ability to produce a big event. The unbeaten switch-hitter from Omaha, Nebraska has always produced favorable TV ratings and sold-out crowds in his hometown but never enjoyed a breakthrough PPV event until he landed the legacy defining fight versus Spence that he craved for more than five years.
Spence (28-1, 22KOs) developed as a huge draw at home in the greater Dallas region. The 33-year-old southpaw surpassed $5,000,000 in ticket sales in his tenth-round knockout of Yordenis Ugas to win the WBA welterweight title and defend his WBC and IBF belts last April 16 at AT&T Stadium, home to the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
The same venue hosted Spence’s twelve-round points win over former two-division titlist Danny Garcia. Their December 2020 title fight came during the pandemic and social distancing but still generated $2,615,075 from 14,508 tickets sold.
Crawford was never a part of a PPV event that previously surpassed 200,000 buys or which produced the type of financial windfall that will come from by far the biggest win of his career. The one-sided nature of his win saw Crawford stake his claim as the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and fully unify all four major titles along with the lineal championship in the welterweight division.
Spence headlined his fifth consecutive PPV event, albeit as he suffered his first defeat. The 2012 U.S. entered as the unified WBC/WBA/IBF welterweight titlist, but was battered and dropped three times before referee Harvey Dock waved off the contest in the ninth round.
The ticket haul saw event presenter Premier Boxing Champions and Showtime claim its second gate north of $20,000,000 in 2023, as the entities also took the lead in the Davis-Garcia show.
There is a shot at a third PPV event landing on the list, with the September 30 Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez-Jermell Charlo undisputed super middleweight championship to also take place at T-Mobile Arena. Guadalajara’s Alvarez (59-2-2, 39KOs) was part of three of the six highest-grossing events to ever take place in Las Vegas.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox