Terence Crawford is becoming the B-side says Eddie Hearn

Image: Terence Crawford is becoming the B-side says Eddie Hearn
By Boxing News - 09/30/2019 - Comments

By Jeff Aronow:  Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn says WBO welterweight title holder Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford should be an A-side superstar, but instead he’s becoming the B-side due to him being frozen out by PBC. Eddie believes that Crawford is being prevented by PBC to fight their guys because they want to sign him.

Hearn says he thinks that Crawford would beat IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. (26-0, 21 KOs) if they were to face each other fight now.

Spence’s last performance against Shawn Porter last Saturday didn’t impress Hearn enough for him to pick him over Crawford if they were to fight. Unfortunately for Crawford, he’s not going to be getting a chance to fight Spence anytime soon, according to he’s on the other side of the street being signed with Top Rank.

Hearn notes that Crawford is about to fight for the second time in 2019 against Egidijus Kavaliauskas. Crawford’s previous fight in 2019 was against Amir Khan. Crawford-Khan bought in 100,000 buys, according to Spence.  Those are not big names that Crawford is fighting, but it’s standard for him. He’s never beaten a big name during his career.

Those are the only two fights that Crawford will have to show for this year. In contrast, Spence has fought Mikey Garcia and Shawn Porter this year. Those are obviously much bigger fights than Crawford’s. Spence’s two fights this year both brought in over 300,000 buys.

Hearn: Crawford beats Spence on that performance against Porter

“It was a good fight. I picked Errol Spence to win on points the way most people did,” said Hearn to Boxing Social in discussing the Spence-Porter fight. “And, I think Shawn Porter is tough to look good against, but I don’t know if Errol Spence is improving that much. I don’t know if that’s because he’s big at the weight, and is starting to struggle at the weight a little bit. He made a few comments on Twitter yesterday about ballooning during camp.

“Obviously it was tough for him, but as a fan, I have a lot of questions saying, ‘Who wins [Terence] Crawford or Spence,’ and on that performance, I would say Terence Crawford. I might be edging to Errol Spence before that that fight, but great fighter and a good fight. I want to see Errol Spence against Crawford, but if not, I want to see Errol Spence against Pacquiao.

“That to me is the fight to make. I know they’re talking about Danny Garcia. I think it’s a good fight, but not the one that stands out for me to make. The difficulty now is when you’re in the pay-per-view echelons, and Errol Spence is going to want double digit millions per fight, you’ve got to be in mega-fights, and I think Pacquiao is one of those fights,” said Hearn.

Hearn is guessing in assuming that Crawford beats Spence off of Errol’s performance against Porter. What Hearn is forgetting is that Spence can box very well when he wants to. He purposefully went to war with Porter, and he made it an entertaining fight in the process. Those are the type of fights that the American boxing fans like to see. They don’t like to see fighters running around the ring, sticking their tongues out at their opponents.

PBC has so many welterweights for Spence to fight

“I had Spence winning by a couple of rounds. But let’s not forget that Kell Brook beat Shawn Porter in LA many moons ago, and that was a close fight,” said Hearn. “The neater work always came from Kell. Shawn Porter was relentless always walking you down, but if you watch it back all the sharp punches and one-twos always came from Kell Brook. That was kind of similar to the Errol Spence fight as well. Close fight, competitive fight, but I had Errol Spence edging it out.

“I think Danny Garcia is a great fight, but it’s not the welterweight fight that stands out to me. They can keep doing these round robins forever. They have so many welterweights, PBC. They’ve got Mikey Garcia, they’ve got Pacquiao, they’ve got [Keith] Thurman, they’ve got Danny Garcia, and Josesito Lopez just got a good win against John Molina. They’ve got loads of stock that they can keep matching, but as a fan, I want to see Errol Spence against Terence Crawford,” said Hearn.

Crawford chose to re-sign with Top Rank. That’s what Hearn is failing to realize. Terence could have let his contract with Top Rank run out, and then move to sign with Matchroom or Premier Boxing Champion. This is what Crawford wanted, and now he’s going to have to live with his decision.  These are Crawford’s last 10 fights:

  • Amir Khan
  • Jose Benavidez
  • Jeff Horn
  • Julius Indongo
  • Felix Diaz
  • John Molina Jr.
  • Viktor Postol
  • Henry Lundy
  • Dierry Jean
  • Thomas Dulorme

Crawford is getting frozen out says Hearn

“I’ve been there like Top Rank is with Crawford,” said Hearn. “It’s very difficult, because you’re getting frozen out. They’re not going to give you nothing, the other side, because they want to sign Terence Crawford. It’s like a case of, ‘Bob [Arum], what are you delivering?’ Spence just beat Porter. He’s now got Pacquiao, Danny Garcia. What have you got, Terence? You’ve got [Egidijus] Kavaliauskas on December 14th. He’s [Crawford] going to get bored soon. He only boxed once this year in April.

“I just feel like all the momentum is, as Terence says, ‘On that side of the street.’ Terence, for me, should be the superstar. He’s the one that everyone should be calling the A-side. Right now he’s not, because his profile isn’t up there. He doesn’t have the activity. He’s not been in the fights. I’d like to see Crawford moving. I love Terence, and I think he’s a great guy, and brilliant fighter. I think he beats Errol Spence, and I want to see it,” said Hearn.

It doesn’t make sense for PBC to let Crawford fight their guys if they feel there’s a good chance that he beats them. That’s normal for promoters to be unwilling to let their fighters face a good opponent promoted by a rival promotional company if they think there’s a chance they’ll lose. Crawford and Top Rank shouldn’t expect any special favors by PBC, because if the shoe was on the other foot we’d likely see the same thing. Top Rank still hasn’t matched WBC/WBO 140-lb champion Jose Ramirez against Regis Prograis.

Hearn says Crawford becoming B-side

“I’m guessing he’s under a long term contract, so I doubt it,” said Hearn when asked if Top Rank could lose Crawford soon to another promotional company. “You can lose a fighter contractually, and you can lose a fighter sort of momentum and relationships. And if I’m Terence Crawford right now, I’m saying, ‘I’m fast turning into the B-side, and I think I should be the A-side.’

“But you can’t be the A-side fighting Amir Khan and Kavaliauskas. That’s his year. Errol Spence’s year has been Mikey Garcia and Shawn Porter. That’s a good year. I hope they can get it made. Bob Arum and Al Haymon made the Fury-Wilder fight. Why can’t they make that fight [Spence vs. Crawford],” asked Hearn.

Crawford is already the B-side as far as a fight between him and Spence. That’s one of the reasons why the match-up will likely never get made. As long as Crawford and Top Rank view him as being worthy of a 50-50 purse split against Spence, he’s not likely going to get the fight. The only way that changes in the short term is if Spence loses to someone.

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