Spence vs. Crawford: Does Terence deserve a 50-50 split?

By Boxing News - 12/30/2020 - Comments

By Chris Williams:  It’s not looking good for Terence Crawford with his hopes and dreams of sharing the ring with the talented IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr in 2021. Crawford and his promoter Bob Arum want a 50-50 split with Spence, and that doesn’t seem to be in the cards.

If Spence agrees to the 50-50 split, he’d have to be feeling very charitable because, on paper, Crawford doesn’t deserve anything close to that.

Spence has made it clear that he would like to face Crawford, but he feels he’s not worth more than a 60-40 or 70-30 split at best.

Why is Crawford being stubborn?

If Crawford stubbornly says not to the offers that Spence has made to him, he’ll be stuck trying to do a deal with Shawn Porter.

Earlier this week, Porter already said he’s not going to accept the $1 million lowball offer to Crawford. If Top Rank wants Porter, it’s going to take a lot more than $1 million to get him to sign on the dotted line.

Image: Spence vs. Crawford: Does Terence deserve a 50-50 split?

Who will Crawford fight if he can’t get Spence and Porter? #2 WBO Vergil Ortiz Jr is too dangerous for the 33-year-old Crawford, and it’s doubtful that Top Rank would agree to make that fight.

Ortiz Jr has got the kind of power that can punch holes through brick walls, and Crawford doesn’t need that, especially with him getting older now and starting to show vulnerability in the chin department.

You can argue 70-30 is what Crawford’s true worth is for a fight with Spence, given that he’s not a pay-per-view fighter, and he doesn’t sell tickets the way Errol does.

We have to assume that Top Rank will eventually offer Spence the Crawford fight at a 55-45 in Errol’s favor in hopes that he’ll bite at that split.

Unfortunately, it’s doubtful that Spence and his adviser Al Haymon at Premier Boxing Champions will agree to that split because it would be a situation where they would greatly be overpaying Crawford.

Terence is a good fighter, but he’s not popular with casual boxing fans. He’ll well-liked by hardcore boxing fans that like watching defensive fighters who counter punch and move a lot, but he’s not a PPV-level guy like Spence.

Top Rank should agree to Spence’s 70-30 split

If Top Rank believes in Crawford, they’ll say yes to the 60-40 or 70-30 split for the Spence fight. Look at it this way. If Crawford wins, he’ll get the 50-50 split that he wants for the rematch. It would be the same situation that we saw with Andy Ruiz Jr when he challenged Anthony Joshua.

If Crawford is going to be leaving Top Rank anyway after his contract runs out in late 2021, wouldn’t it be better for them to cash out with the Spence fight while they can? I mean, 40 percent of a fight against pence is better than 100% of nothing, isn’t it? I’m just saying.

Image: Spence vs. Crawford: Does Terence deserve a 50-50 split?

Ruiz had to take the smaller spit for the first fight, which represented that he was facing the A-side guy that brought in the fans with Joshua. When Ruiz pulled off the upset, he was able to get a better deal the second time around.

If Crawford believes in himself, he should take the smaller money to get the fight with Spence, and then if he beats him, they can run it back and he’d get a better deal.

Crawford isn’t in the position to get a 50-50 deal

Right now, Crawford isn’t in the position to get a 50-50 deal or shutter the thought, a 60-40 split in his favor. Crawford’s resume is barren of any names in terms of talented opposition.

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He’s only fought one good fighter during his career and that was at lightweight when he took on Yuriorkis Gamboa, who was two divisions above his best weight class of 126. Even then, Yuriorkis staggered Crawford early and was getting the better of him until he gassed out in the 8th.

This could be the last time WBO 147-lb champion Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) gets a shot at Errol because he plans on moving up to 154 soon to fight the big dogs in that division.