Terence Crawford hit a new milestone in his undefeated pro boxing career with his fifth successful title defense against Shawn Porter this Saturday, but the WBO welterweight world champion had aimed at something higher- to secure a fight against unified welterweight champ Errol Spence Jr and with Top Rank failing to secure the same, Crawford has opted against moving forward with Bob Arum’s promotion with the expiration of the contract.
Terence Crawford leaves Top Rank, but the boxer-promotion relation was already cracked beforehand
A former unified light-welterweight world champion who held the WBA (Super), WBC, IBF and WBO titles, Terence Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) moved up to welterweight in 2018 and clinched the WBO belt against Jeff Horn. Since then, “Bud” has marked five successive title defences, against José Benavidez Jr, Amir Khan, Egidijus Kavaliauskas, Kell Brook and the most recent one against Shawn Porter.
However, instead of the back to back title defenses, Crawford had aimed to move one step closer towards the undisputed championship and taking on the WBC and IBF titleholder Errol Spence Jr would have been a step that he was cherishing.
Now as his contract with Top Rank expires after the Porter fight, Crawford has decided to split up with the promotion, even though Bob Arum mentioned the future possibilities of conducting the Spence fight or even a matchup against undisputed light-welterweight champion Josh Taylor.
“I’m pretty sure my decision is made already,” Crawford said following the Porter fight, “Bob couldn’t secure me the Spence fight when I was with him, so how is he gonna secure me the Spence fight when I’m not with him? I’m moving forward with my career right now and I wish everybody the best.” [H/T Bad Left Hook]
The relation between Terence Crawford and Bob Arum has not been smooth in recent times, especially after the Top Rank CEO said he was losing money on Crawford’s fights after the champion defeated Kell Brook last November.
“I could build a house in Beverly Hills on the money I lost on him in the last three fights,” Arum spoke to The Athletic at that time and even after facing severe backlash, the 89-year-old did not change his stance later on and even insisted on not promoting any of Crawford’s future fights but remained silent on “Bud” making up his mind to leave the promotion this Saturday.
Highlights:
- WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford decides to part ways with Top Rank
- Crawford took the decision after the Top Rank CEO Bob Arum failed to secure a unification fight with Errol Spence Jr
