Crawford gives his detailed version of why Spence talks fell apart
Instead will defend welterweight title vs. Avanesyan on Dec. 10
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Terence Crawford sat on a couch in a warm-up suit on Tuesday night and told the viewers what to expect from the Instagram video he was recording.
“I’m about to give it to you raw and uncut,” said Crawford, the WBO welterweight titleholder.
For the next 21-plus minutes, Crawford gave his version — in great detail — of what caused the negotiations for him to meet three-belt titlist Errol Spence Jr. for the undisputed crown and pound-for-pound supremacy to implode, and for him to ultimately accept a deal to fight European champion David Avanesyan on Dec. 10 at the CHI Health Center in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.
During the video Crawford said he was willing to fight for no guaranteed purse and that Al Haymon, the Premier Boxing Champions founder and Spence’s adviser, with whom he was negotiating, never offered one.
Crawford also said he spoke personally to Spence about an offer he received from an unnamed hedge fund willing to guarantee him and Spence $25 million apiece in addition to a share of any potential profits but that Spence and Haymon would not even discuss it.
Crawford also said he and his lawyer were willing to meet in person with Haymon and Spence to get the deal done but they were rebuffed.
And then when Haymon could not deliver an aspect of the deal that was important to Crawford, which was for the fight to take place in 2022 since he had been out of the ring since the final fight on his Top Rank contract last November, a 10th-round knockout of two-time titlist Shawn Porter, he took the offer to face Avanesyan and hopes to revisit a Spence deal at a later date. Spence-Crawford was initially looked at for November but then February, which was unacceptable to Crawford.
Three-division champion Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs), 35, began by explaining that the talks with Haymon started in May, a few weeks after Spence knocked out Yordenis Ugas to retain the IBF and WBC titles and unify them with the WBA belt he took from Ugas.
At first, it seemed like a deal would be made. It was a fight Spence and Crawford both said repeatedly they wanted; it was by far the biggest fight for both of them; the boxing public has wanted the fight for several years; and now that Crawford was a promotional and broadcast free agent a deal with PBC would be far easier than had he still been with Top Rank.
‘The difference between me and Spence is I’m really my own boss now and he’s not.’ — Crawford
But Crawford said that even though he and Haymon had a lot of back and forth, he didn’t receive a contract until August — and then qualified his comment.
“It wasn’t even a contract. It was a proposal,” Crawford said.
He also explained that Haymon apparently had also been negotiating with an unnamed person claiming to represent Crawford but Crawford said that person was not authorized to speak on his behalf and he did not even know who the person was.
“We’re going back and forth and back and forth,” Crawford said. “Al’s a good dude. Al’s a charming guy, you know. He’s a cool dude. I kind of like talking to him. But at the same time Spence is Al’s guy. I’m not. So, of course, he’s going to do what’s best for his fighter, his guy. That’s like any other manager slash adviser would do. He would do the best for his fighter.”
Crawford continued: “Me and Al, you know, we’re going back and forth, back and forth about, you know, the numbers. We not going back and forth about anything else. We just going back and forth about the numbers. I have two companies that reach out to me that wanted to give me and Spence $25 million guaranteed — $25 million guaranteed, up front. So, a real guy like myself, I called Spence. ‘Hey, bro, look, listen, you know what I mean? I got this company that’s willing to give us $25 million apiece guaranteed. What’s up? What you gonna do?’ He’s like, ‘$25 million? What about the back end?’ I’m like, ‘Dude, listen, if they make they money back then we get 80-20 (in our favor of the profits). You know what I mean? It’s simple math.’
“I said, ‘Man, we got people who are buying the fight, I mean, stealing the fight. They got the firesticks.’ And he laughed. He like, ‘Man, I got a firestick, too.’ I’m like, ‘See.’ I’m like, ‘Man, ain’t nobody really like buying pay-per-views no more.’ I said, ‘Man, we get this up-front money and we good. It’s a no-brainer. You know what I mean?’
“But the difference between me and Spence is I’m really my own boss now and he’s not. He got to go through Al. He got to go through his team and ask them if he can do certain things that I don’t have to no more. I might have had to when I was with Top Rank because I was signed to Top Rank and they was my promotional company. .. But now that I’m a free agent and free to do whatever I want I’m the one sitting at the table. (Spence) had to go back and ask Al for permission if he can take this big chunk, a lump sum of money, to fight Terence Crawford.”
Crawford said Spence did not call him back to follow up on the conversation about the $25 million offer so he took it upon himself to call Haymon about it.
“I hit up Al. I’m like, ‘Al, listen, you know, man, I got this big hedge fund company out there. They claim they know you. Not one, but two companies willing to put $20-plus million in both of our pockets, guaranteed,” Crawford said. “Al told me straight up, ‘I’m not letting nobody touch this fight.’ Like, ‘All right, cool.’ But I’m like, ‘Why?’ He like, ‘Why would you wanna put a ceiling on yourself? Why you wanna put a cap on yourself?’ I’m like, ‘Well, that’s not putting a cap on myself if this company is taking a risk? It’s high risk, high reward.’ If that’s the case, you know, I can’t see a fight that’s been doing millions (of pay-per-view buys) since Floyd (Mayweather).”
But the face-to-face meeting did not happen, Crawford said. All the while he said he was never offered a guaranteed purse, which is unusual.
With the talks dragging on, Crawford suggested that he and his lawyer go meet with Spence and Haymon in person but Haymon told him his mother “wasn’t doing too well and I honored that and I respect that. Family first. I’m cool l with that. But then again as negotiations dragged on and I had stated that I wanted to fight this year, I asked Al again because we wasn’t getting nowhere.
“I asked Al, ‘Why don’t you get Spence and you and I’ll get myself and my lawyer and anything we got to do we can make it right here, signed, sealed, delivered. And Al told me straight up, ‘That ain’t ever happened in history where two fighters sit down at the table and they come to an agreement and get a fight made like that. Not even Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.’ And I said, ‘There’s a first time for everything.’”
But the face-to-face meeting did not happen, Crawford said. All the while he said he was never offered a guaranteed purse, which is unusual. Typically, on a major pay-per-view, a fighter gets at least a minimal guarantee and then earns off their percentage of the event profits.
“I never heard of a fighter taking zero guarantee. I never heard a fighter of a four-rounder take a zero guarantee. That’s new to me but that’s something I was willing to do to make this fight happen,” Crawford said. “A lot of people saying, ‘Terence you ducked. You don’t want to fight Spence.’ I was taking all the risks. I told them, alright, cool. I’ll take no guarantee; I’ll take the less end of the money. Whatever it is you want, I’ll take it because that’s how much confidence I got that I’m gonna beat that man.”
Crawford’s next issue was that as long as he was willing to fight only for a percentage of the event profits, he wanted to the ability to be involved in the decisions related to expenses.
“So, even though I knew I was getting fucked in the long run I wanted a little transparency,” Crawford said. “I said, OK, if I’m gonna bet on myself, and I’m gonna go against all the odds, I want a little transparency. I want to be able to (sign) off on things that’s going to affect my check. Of course, I want to see if the numbers add up to what they telling me.”
Eventually, Crawford said Haymon told him to take the deal or leave it.
“Al told me if I don’t take this fight, Errol Spence is going to go and make eight figures without me,” Crawford said. “He was basically telling me take this fight or leave it, and you got nothing.”
At that point, Crawford said he moved on to finalizing a deal with little-known BLK Prime to fight Avanesyan on its obscure streaming platform in the main event of a $39.99 pay-per-view. Avanesyan (29-3-1, 17 KOs), 34, an England-based Russia native promoted by Frank Warren, withdrew from an already announced European title defense against Jon Miguez on Nov. 19 to take the fight with Crawford.
“And you (fans are) mad at me for taking a fight with a tough opponent — you may not know him but he’s a tough opponent — for a bigger purse, a guarantee that I wasn’t even gonna get (against Spence)? You crazy in the head,” said Crawford, who has said he is guaranteed a career-high of at least $10 million to fight Avanesyan. “So, now, here we go back to square one. What do you really expect? You expect me to be disrespected, ran over, stepped on and just sit there and take it? That’s crazy.
“I wasn’t even gonna say nothing because I’m not the talkative type but sometimes you got to say what’s real. You got to say what’s on your mind and you got stop letting these people just do what they want with you.”
Crawford said that he has heard that Haymon will now match Spence (28-0, 22 KOs), 32, of DeSoto, Texas, with former titlist and fellow PBC fighter Keith Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs), 33, of Clearwater, Florida, an opponent Spence has long said he would never fight.
Crawford said assuming he beats Avanesyan and Spence wins his next fight, they can revisit a deal because he still wants to fight Spence in one of the most significant bouts in boxing.
“My intentions,” Crawford said, “are still the same.”
Crawford photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
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Really well written article and a deep dive into the murky waters of the business of boxing.
Crawford represents the brass ring for Spence, but he also represents the very real possibility of an ass kicking, so, strictly from a business point of view,I don’t really blame Spence for being circumspect, and for Haymond, the possibility of tarnishing his shiny penny.
Better he take several fights he’s sure he’ll win than risk it against Crawford, right? Good business sense, I guess. Not so great for his reputation as a champion though. The true champions take on these sorts of challenges because it’s in their nature.
Hi Dan, Thanks for the details and writing this all up! I wanted to know what Crawford had to say but also was not very eager to watch the video.