Even though an undisputed welterweight fight against Errol Spence Jr seemed very close to materializing, it had gone to backfoot once again, and Terence Crawford has spilled the beans in detail on why it could not take place.
The difference between me and Spence is that I’m my own boss now, not him: Terence Crawford
The WBO welterweight champion assured that a fundamental part of the negotiations not to be ignored is that he is his own boss, something that Spence cannot say. In addition, ‘Bud’ made it clear that he proposed options and got a guarantee of more than $20 million for each fighter, but Al Haymon, Spence’s promoter, did not accept that.
“I have two companies that have contacted me and wanted to give me and Spence $25 million guaranteed up front,” Terence Crawford revealed to FightHype, “I called Spence. ‘Hey, bro, look, listen, I have this company that is willing to give us 25 million guaranteed. What’s happening? What are you going to do?'”
“He had to go back and ask Al (Haymon) for permission if he could take this huge amount of money to fight Terence Crawford,” Crawford went on, “And he didn’t call me back any time soon.”
What Crawford understands it is that, now that he is a free agent, he is the one in charge of negotiating any situation with his fights, something that the WBC, WBA and IBF titleholder cannot do.
“I am the one speaking directly, Errol Spence is not speaking to Terence Crawford about the fight,” said Crawford, “Errol Spence was not at the table. Errol Spence can’t tell you we showed you a contract.”
Crawford revealed that in the conversation with Spence he told him that nobody buys pay-per-views anymore, so the offer of more than 20 million was good for him.
“I told him, ‘We get that money up front and we’re good,'” he said, but to Errol’s refusal, “I would say the difference between me and Spence is that I’m my own boss now, not him.”
Crawford insisted on the fight and contacted Haymon, to whom he proposed the fight and told him about the guarantee of more than 20 million, but the promoter snubbed the offer.
“Al told me straight up, ‘I’m not letting anyone touch this fight,’” and while Crawford questioned the reason for doing so, Haymon told him, “Why would you want to put a ceiling on yourself? Why would you want to put a limit on yourself?
Crawford proposed a meeting between himself, Crawford’s attorney and Haymon but the representative couldn’t make it. The negotiations continued without a fixed course and while Crawford asked the three of them and Spence to get together and do anything to make the fight happen, Haymon still disagreed.
“Al told me bluntly, ‘That’s never happened in history where two fighters sit down at a table, come to an agreement and have a fight like that. Not even Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao’,” Crawford added.
And while there was plenty of criticism against Crawford after the fight fell through, he made it clear that he was the only one taking the risks. Even so, he accepted the fight, without guarantees and was aware that there would be no transparency, but it was his confidence that pushed Crawford to take the fight.
“I said, ‘Okay, great. I will not take any collateral. I’ll take the low end of the money. Whatever you want I’ll take because that’s the confidence I have to beat that man,’” Crawford concluded, “Even though I know I’ll get screwed over the long haul, I just wanted a little transparency.”
In the end, Haymon still did not accept the fight, and Crawford was offered to fight David Avanesyan on December 10th in Omaha, Nebraska, which he nodded to.
