By Chris Williams: Terence Crawford’s trainer Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre went off on some of the fans of welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. on social media on Friday when they told him that Bud can’t sell and he hasn’t fought top welterweights since moving up to 147 two years ago.
Crawford’s trainer McIntyre went off, saying that WBO welterweight champion Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) made more money than Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) did last year, and that he wouldn’t be in the position he’s in right now if he was loyal to his craft.
Spence already established himself as PPV attraction
The way things are right now, Crawford might need to take the smaller money for him to get a fight against Spence. Errol has already established himself as a pay-per-view attraction in his last two fights against Shawn Porter and Mikey Garcia. Those two fights bring in a lot of PPV buys on Fox Sports.
In contrast, Crawford has had a couple of tries at pay-per-view against Amir Khan and Viktor Postol, and neither did well.
The reason for that could be a mixture of things. It’s hard to pin down what Crawford’s problem is but it’s a mix of these issues that are keeping him from becoming a pay-per-view attraction like Errol:
- Lack of charisma
- Poor opposition: when trying to become a PPV star, you got to fight talented opposition. We haven’t seen that from Crawford in his two attempts at the pay-per-view
- Too much junk stuff in Crawford’s game: changing fighting stances, moving around the ring and counter punching
- Fighting style not aggressive enough
Spence’s trainer Derrick James stated a couple of weeks ago that Crawford needs to raise his profile in the sport since he’s not popular enough for them to fight. With Crawford still not a popular fighter due in large part to the mediocre opposition he’s faced since turning pro in 2008, it makes it a bad choice for Spence to fight him now.
For boxing fans that aren’t aware, Spence has been out of action since being involved in a bad car crash on October 10 last year in October. Although Spence says he’s training to return to the ring in July, the likelihood of that is now slim due to the coronavirus pandemic that has shutdown boxing and the other major sports.
BoMac slams Spence fans
“You must be drunk if you think Spence is doing the number they report or making the money they say he’s making,” said Crawford’s trainer Brian McIntyre @BomacBrian on Twitter.
“I bet all my house, and my cars and my gym Bud has made more money than Spence in the last year. See the problem [is] Spence ain’t loyal to his craft. We don’t need Spence to get into the HOF. If you and your fighter [Spence] was loyal to his craft, he wouldn’t be in the position he’s in now.
“We would have a date already [for a Spence vs. Crawford fight]. But no, you and the rest of you Spence fans have to wait until this cat stay SOBER to train and sign the contract. But I bet you one thing right now. We’re [Crawford] ready to go to war. We stay ready to sit your a– down boy before Spence embarrasses you and the rest of the Spence fans,” said BoMac.
Some boxing fans believe that Crawford wanting 50% of the pot for a fight with Spence as a sign that he’s NOT serious about wanting to fight him. Given the difference in the pay-per-view numbers, some would are that Spence deserves between an 80-20 and 70-30 purse split for a fight against Crawford.
It’s not looking like a good situation with Crawford’s future right now. He reportedly doesn’t want to fight Shawn Porter, a guy that would raise his profile if he beat him. On top of that, Crawford’s promoter Bob Arum is talking about having the 140-pounders Josh Taylor, Regis Prograis and Jose Ramirez all move up to 147 to fight him soon.
Those are fighters that Crawford SHOULD have fought when he was at light welterweight. Not when he’s already at 147.
McIntyre confident Spence vs. Crawford happens
“Crawford said, ‘I want to fight Spence.’ He said in his face, ‘I want to fight you.’ What more can a man say?” said BoMac. “I think it’s more about timing. And I know for sure the fight is going to happen, but it’s about timing.
“I believe he’s milking the cow over there, and once he gets done milking the cow over there, he’ll probably say I have to have whatever, and whatever the case has got to be. It’s going to happen,” said BoMac about a fight between Spence and Crawford.
There’s no plan in place right now that will raise the popularity of Crawford to the point where a fight between him and Spence sells. It needs to marinate more, but that won’t help if Crawford continues to fight the same level of opposition he’s been fighting.
Look at Crawford’s last 11 fights:
- Egidijus Kavaliauskas
- Amir Khan
- Jose Benavidez Jr
- Jeff Horn
- Julius Indongo
- Felix Diaz
- John Molina Jr.
- Viktor Postol
- Henry Lundy
- Dierry Jean
- Thomas Dulorme
In looking at that list, there’s not a name among them that would have a chance of beating even the top 140-pounders, let alone the best guys at 147. What does that say about Crawford? Is he for real or a fighter that has been carefully matched his promoters at Top Rank to make him look better than he actually is?
Crawford might as well move back down to 140 if he’s going to start fighting light welterweights. More importantly, from a business sense, Crawford’s popularity won’t likely increase from fighting Taylor, Prograis and Ramirez. They’re not popular fighters.
