Dana White reacts to Arum’s comments on Crawford: ‘Your job is to promote him’

By Boxing News - 11/18/2020 - Comments

By Barry Holbrook: UFC president Dana White tore into Top Rank promoter Bob Arum over his recent comments about how he could build houses in Beverly Hills with the money he’s lost in Terence Crawford’s last couple of fights.

Arum went off on Crawford after his fight last Saturday night against Kell Brook in ‘The Bubble’ at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Despite Crawford winning by a fourth-round knockout, Arum looked highly agitated when being interviewed after the fight.

In an interview, said he wasn’t sure if he would resign Crawford or not when his contract is up with Top Rank next year. He said he would have to make the decision at that time.

White rips into Arum

Like British promoter Eddie Hearn, White believes that Arum was out of line in criticizing his fighter Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) in public, and he says his job as a promoter is to promote Terence, not complain about the money he has to pay him.

Arum has been promoting Crawford for years, and he hasn’t made the leap to superstardom the way other fighters have. He would like WBO welterweight champion, Crawford, to help promote his fights the way that his young star 23-year-old Teofimo Lopez is doing by giving interviews.

Image: Dana White reacts to Arum's comments on Crawford: 'Your job is to promote him'

In addition to having a charismatic, outgoing personality, Teofimo has a large social presence, which gives him a lot of visibility with the young boxing fans.

“Do you imagine if I said that? Are you f***** kidding me?” said UFC boss Dana White in reacting to a comment from Arum about how he could build a house in Beverly Hills with the amount of money he’s lost in Crawford’s last two fights.

“You guys would murder me if I said that. I’d never hear the end of that. That’s what you do. That’s not his [Crawford] problem, that’s your problem. His problem is to figure out how you make money.

“You signed a deal with this f***** kid [Crawford]. Your job is to promote him. You made a deal…I have to pay these kids,” White said about his UFC fighters that he has in his company.

“How I pay them is not their f**** problem. It’s my problem. Imagine me saying, ‘I got to pay Conor McGregor this much money.

“I could have built a house in Beverly Hills.’ Shut the f*** up, you f****** scumbag. Pay your f****** fighter what you owe him. That’s your job. Bob Arum is a piece of f***** s***,” said White.

Is Crawford capable of self-promoting like McGregor?

Conor McGregor has been White’s biggest star with the UFC in the past, but he did the hard work himself with his ability to self-promote. You can argue that if Crawford were half as good at promoting his own fights as McGregor, Arum wouldn’t have any issues with him.

Image: Dana White reacts to Arum's comments on Crawford: 'Your job is to promote him'

The basic problem is, Arum expects more of Crawford in helping to sell his fights, and it’s unclear whether he’ll ever be able to do that like McGregor or Teofimo.