by Frank Bay: The public is clamoring for boxing's mega event of 2025, Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence 'Bud' Crawford. Well, not so much. Boxing hasn't had a legitimate major crossover event since the recent Jack Paul vs. Mike Tyson circus dude and 2023's Gervonta 'Tank' Davis vs. Ryan Garcia mega-event, which was rumored to hit the one million PPV buy tipping point. And let's be honest, Davis vs. Garcia wasn't a mega event like the last true crossover event with the mass appeal of Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao.

Canelo is the last of the PPV boxing stars to model success due to streaming events like Paul vs. Tyson on Netflix. But Alvarez last hit the 1 million threshold in their 2nd fight against Gennadiy Golovkin during HBO Day in 2018. Since then, Alvarez's numbers have declined, and he's only hitting around 500k to 650k reported PPV. It only approaches 1 million with Caleb Plant 800k in 2021, which seems almost 20 years ago, considering the boxing landscape is now without Showtime or HBO.

The fight is being talked about well, and the fight Budd and Turki Al-Sheikh are begging for is Canelo Alvarez. But honestly, this isn't a mega event that will hit the 1 million gold standard, seeing as how every bud PPV has flopped except for Errol Spence, with the reported Israel Madrimov fight buying a paltry 150k PPV. The Turk bathed in blood at the event, allegedly losing millions even with a stacked undercard and a performance by Eminem. The reality is the fight is not a cross-over fight and will probably max out at 750k PPV The only other reality is the David Benavidez fight, which will probably max out at 800k because it's not a big cross-over event, as Bennie's PPVs have flopped big time, reportedly doing 75k for his fight with Demetrius Andrade on November 25, 2023. .

The truth is, Alvarez is in no man's land, and his options as an opponent for Dmitri Bival or Artur Beterbiev are no less than his Edgar Berlanga fight because, for the state, Berlanga was a big name. I can't give an exact prediction because the future looks bleak for the likes of Alvarez and his 2025 opponents. A Jake Paul fight would be the direction as it could fight for the Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao crossover fight boxing desperately needs. Alvarez's current 168-pound division has decent fighters but no star appeal in Christian Mbili, Diego Pacheco and Ausles Iglesias and William Scholl. No one is going to pay Alvarez anything less than $35 million to fight on PPV. If we want to get a Budd vs. Canelo mega fight, Turki Al-Sheikh needs to pony up at least $100 million to get the American market interested. If anyone can, it's the Turks.

Moving on to the A-list of boxing stars, we have 'Monster' Ino and Tank Davis. The sad truth is that I don't see them becoming true crossover stars without each other as antagonists. Inoue, boxing's #1 fighter, has reached his limit. Maybe Top Rank envisioned another meteoric rise like Pac-Man because Inoue has the same Asian market as Manny, but he can't blitz through weight class after weight class, which is never fair to expect of him. But if Inoue were to fight a breakthrough, it would be Tank Davis, who exists in fantasy land. Inoue has good opponents ahead at 126 with Bruce Carrington and Rafael 'El Divino' Espinoza. Still, none of those fights would enrage the American media like Manny had with his namesake rivals Eric Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. Look for Inoue to play it safe in 2025 and set up an All-Land of the Rising Sun showdown with Junto Nakatani.

Last and certainly not least is Tank Davis, who has done nothing to take his throne as the face of boxing after the big success of his relationship with Ryan Garcia. Defeating Frank Martin did nothing for him after losing steam and taking a year off after being on the heater, that fight reportedly drew less than 200k PPV. With Vasily Lomachenko choosing to sit out and fix his back, Davis was left without a viable name to sell his PPV event. He decided to pick Lamont Roach, and now, with multiple cancellations, people are wondering if the fight will even happen in 2025. Davis certainly knows he needs a big name in 2025, but there aren't many outside of Ryan Garcia, who he's already beaten. . The reality is that the other names aren't as stellar as Ryan. Shakur Stevenson, Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney are all damaged goods. With a rumored Manny Pacquiao returning, the obvious mega cross-over event would be a Pac-Man vs. Tank Davis fight. A Manny vs. Davis fight would put Davis over Alvarez, but something tells me Davis and his handlers want to play it safe like they always have. Noting ventured, nothing to lose.