By Radio Rahim

Eddie Hearn, promoter for Anthony Crolla, explains that Friday's world title fight with pound-for-pound boxer Vasiliy Lomachenko is a good example of how tough the situation is - when it comes to generating interest for certain fighters in the American market.

Crolla will challenge Lomachenko for the WBA, WBO lightweight titles at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

The fight has not generated a lot of interest at the gate, according to Hearn.

The Matchroom CEO explains that Lomachenko - despite being heavily pushed on ESPN and doing good TV ratings - has not secured the interest of the public, with the ticket sales being poor for Friday's bout.

Hearn believes the Lomachenko-Crolla fight, if staged in the UK, would be a major event with as many as 40 to 60,000 tickets sold.

"America has been the biggest market in boxing, but in the last five years Britain has stolen the show.... when you look at the ticket sales and the interest in shows. This fight is a good example.... Lomachenko. If Lomachenko-Crolla was in the UK, it would be doing 40, 50, 60,000 fans. But when you're talking about the financial hub of boxing, that is certainly in America," Hearn told BoxingScene.com.

"Just because you generate big numbers and have good exposure [on ESPN], does not mean that you generate interest. And Lomachenko is a good example. This [fight] hasn't sold at all, but he's all over ESPN, they're pushing him there... he's Picasso and he's this and that. But who's interested, really? I'm not talking about people sitting at home. I'm talking about people on the streets. Who's talking about Lomachenko on the streets?

"A good example is, in the UK, people stop me in the streets and say 'when is Joshua fighting, who is Dillian Whyte fighting next?, Joshua Buatsi is the new real deal.' It's topical. And the problem with America is that it's not topical, people are not talking about boxing enough in the streets, in the bars, in the restaurants, in the taxis, in the ubers.

"They are talking about other things. And that's the problem in America, you've got American football, you've got baseball, you've got ice hockey, you've got basketball, you've got college football - you've got all these sports that take priority over boxing. In England, it's football and boxing."