By Chris Williams: Bob Arum is blaming the talented IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr for the undisputed 147-pound championship fight against Terence Crawford isn’t happening.
Crawford’s Top Rank promoter Arum says Spence’s adviser Al Haymon and Premier Boxing Champions are both in favor of the Crawford-Spence bout taking place. According to Arum, Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) is too focused on the numbers and percent split.
The heart of the issue is, Crawford wants the lion’s share of the split at 60-40 for the Spence fight, even though he only has the WBO welterweight title. Crawford isn’t a pay-per-view fighter, and Arum even said he’d lost money on some of his fights.
How can Crawford be asking for a 60-40 or even a 50-50 split in a fight against Spence? Chris Williams is predicting that Crawford will NEVER get the Spence fight, and the reason is that he won’t agree to let him be the A-side.
In other words, Crawford is failing to learn from the past, and he’s spinning his wheels going nowhere fast. If Crawford wants to keep getting what he’s getting, he’ll continue to insist on parity or being the A-side against Spence.
But if Crawford wants the fight to happen, he should agree to the 30 or 40% cut that Spence is offering him.
The fact that Crawford isn’t willing to admit that he’s the B-side against Spence and take the smaller money is arguably the real problem is.
“I talked to Al Haymon, he’s amenable to the fight. Spence is the obstacle. Spence throws out numbers and percentages,” said Bob Arum to the 3 Knock Down Rule.
“We believe Crawford will beat him, unfortunately, Spence believes the same. Don’t blame Haymon, blame Spence,” said Arum.
Looking at it from a logical perspective, Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) would be doing well if he agreed to let Spence be the A-side and take the 60-40 split that he’s offering him.
If Crawford is as good as he says he is, he beats Spence, and he can then take the bigger purse split in the rematch. Crawford makes perfect sense to stop being stubborn and let Spence have the lion’s share of the treasure. This is the only way a fight between them is going to happen, right?
Crawford has been fighting for 13 years now as a professional and has still not been involved in a career-defining fight. If you wonder why it could be that his assistance on being the A-side is what’s holding him back.
If Crawford just let his ego give in this once for the Spence match, his career might take off after this. If Crawford bets Spence, he’ll make money back in the rematch and with Fury fights.
Look at Manny Pacquiao. He agreed to be the B-side for his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2015, and he made a mountain of money.
Arum hasn’t mentioned who he plans on scheduling for Crawford to fight in 2021. Here we are approaching February, and Crawford still has no opponent for his next fight. That ain’t good, believe me.
What we could see is another unknown contender or old-timer for Crawford to fight when he returns to the ring.
Crawford has beaten past their prime British fighters Kell Brook and Amir Khan in the last couple of years. His other wins have come against Egidijus Kavaliauskas and Jose Benavidez Jr.
Crawford could turn things around instantly if he agrees to take the smaller money for the Spence fight so that the fight can happen. Also, Crawford wouldn’t hurt to sacrifice a portion of his purse to try and make a fight between him and Shawn Porter happen.
Porter has been talking about being offered just $1 million for a fight against Crawford, and he doesn’t understand how Brook got $2.5 million and Khan $7.5. If Crawford could use some of his purse money to bump up Porter’s purse to $3 million, he might be willing to fight him.