By Chris Williams: Mikey Garcia says he wants to take on WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford, but he believes he won’t be able to fight with the Nebraska native until ‘Bud’ leaves Top Rank.
Crawford’s contract with Top Rank is expected to expire later this year, and it’s not looking like they’ll be able to re-sign him. Why would Crawford re-up with Bob Arum if he’s not making the big fights for him?
It would be in Top Rank’s best interest as a company to try and negotiate a fight between the still-popular former four-division world champion Mikey (40-1, 30 KOs) and Crawford now.
To have any chance of getting the 33-year-old Crawford to sign up for another hitch with Top Rank, Arum or Todd Duboef needs to put together a fight with Mikey or Shawn Porter.
ESPN commentator Tm Bradley has complained about PBC fighters not wanting to cross the street to fight Crawford.
Things have changed recently, with Mikey Garcia and Porter both showing interest in fighting Crawford. #1 WBO Vergil Ortiz Jr wants to fight Terence as well, so what’s the hold-up?
Why aren’t these fights happening? We’ve heard how Porter was only offered $1 million for a fight against Crawford.
Is that all Arum can get from ESPN to pay Porter? Arum or Duboef should go back to ESPN and impress upon them how big of a fight it would be between Crawford and Porter for their network?
“If he does leave Top Rank and decides to do things on his own or with the help of PBC or anyone that might allow us to fight these kinds of guys, including myself, then that’s a good fight for me too. 147, he’s a champion at 147,” said Mikey to Fighthype when asked what weight he would fight Crawford at.
“He [Crawford] might actually be leaving Top Rank, and he might be available,” said Mikey Garcia to Fighthype.
It wouldn’t be an easy fight for Crawford against the counter-punching Mikey Garcia, but it would be winnable. For the money that Crawford and Top Rank can make due to Mikey’s popularity, this is a non-brainer for Arum trying to set this fight up.
If Crawford is supposedly the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in boxing, Top Rank needs to match him against Mikey to prove he deserves that title.
It’s forlorn to be given a high rating on the pound-for-pound lists if all your fighting is guys like Kell Brook, Egidijus Kavaliauskas, and Amir Khan.
With Crawford down to one or two fights left with Top Rank, it would be a shock if Arum doesn’t try and get this fight with Mikey or Porter done. It’s not just about keeping Crawford. It’s the company.
Can Top Rank keep up with the competition?
Top Rank needs to stay up with the competition like Matchroom Boxing USA and Golden Boy. How is Arum going to do that if he can’t or won’t put together excellent fights for Crawford and Porter or Mikey.
Not being able to work a deal for Crawford to fight Porter or Mikey, two fighters who want to face Bud, is disappointing.
The only fight that Arum seems to believe will make money for Crawford is the Errol Spence Jr unification, and he sounds incredibly jaded at this point.
Arum talks about Crawford having lost him money in some of his past fights, and he doesn’t appear to be willing to stick his neck out for anything other than a Crawford – Spence fight. That fight won’t get done as long as Crawford keeps talking about wanting a 60-40 or even a 50-50 split with Errol.
If the 90-year-old Arum is taking less of an active role with his company Top Rank, he needs to have someone with energy to step in and make the deals for his fighters like Crawford to keep them relevant.
Arum needs someone like Eddie Hearn to be his head guy who can take over the reins with Top Rank and work tirelessly to set up deals with fighters. If Hearn were the #1 guy at Top Rank, it’s hard to imagine him not putting a fight together between Crawford and Mikey or Porter.
Hearn would be working his tail off to try and keep Crawford. Chris Williams doesn’t see the same kind of effort being done now with the company’s current leadership.