BoxRec

Top Rank will be putting on 2 pay-per-view shows on ESPN for 2018, according to latest news. There’s no word yet which fighters will be involved in the 2 PPV telecasts, but it’s highly likely that the PPV fights will involve former light welterweight champion Terence Crawford facing either Jeff Horn or Manny Pacquiao.

Super featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko will possibly wind up on one of the PPV dates if Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is able to set him up with a fight against WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia. If Arum can make that fight, it’s almost a given that the match will be televised on ESPN PPV.

Who will pay if the price is right?

I can't foresee Vasyl Lomachenko ever facing Mikey Garcia, due to political, relationship and fiscal reasons, but hopefully I'm wrong about this.

Neither Terence Crawford nor Jeff Horn are considered big enough draws in the US to headline a PPV event, unless the undercard is especially strong.

Enlightened-One wrote: ↑30 Dec 2017, 12:26 I can't foresee Vasyl Lomachenko ever facing Mikey Garcia, due to political, relationship and fiscal reasons, but hopefully I'm wrong about this.

I hope you're wrong too.

Lomachenko and Garcia might do a little PPV business if only because Mikey brings something of a Latino audience with him, and the nonstop hype behind VL.

But Garcia isn't Mr. Excitement outside the ring and neither is Lomachenko, so a PPV matchup would struggle to top 300,000. Maybe 250,000.

One reason that Canelo/Golovkin failed to meet PPV buy projections is that neither knows how to sell a fight. Especially in English.

Without that skill, only the hardcore boxing fans are interested enough to put their PPV bucks down. The casual boxing viewer is left almost in the dark about the bout.

Say what you will, but Mayweather and McGregor knew what it takes in promotion to cross over and attract a paying mainstream audience.

Good luck to Crawford and Horn. They'll need it to reach 100,000 buys if ESPN foolishly goes the PPV route with it.