By Chris Williams: Terence Crawford dropped a bomb in revealing that he’s leaving his promoter Bob Arum and Top Rank following his tenth round knockout win over ‘Showtime’ Shawn Porter last Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
At the post-fight press conference, Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) revealed that he was moving on from Top Rank, mainly because they couldn’t get him the fight he wanted against Errol Spence Jr.
Crawford, 34, pointed out that Top Rank couldn’t produce the fight that he’s been asking for with IBF/WBC welterweight champion Spence Jr. (27-0, 21 KOs).
Terence about to find out some harsh realities
Interestingly, Crawford said all this with Arum sitting right beside him on the stage at the post-fight press conference, which was probably not the classiest move on his part. You would think Crawford would say these things with Arum not in his presence, but he did it anyway.
You can’t blame Arum for him not making the fight because he couldn’t force Spence to agree to the match with Crawford. No one could have.
Ultimately, it won’t matter where Crawford goes. If Spence doesn’t want the fight, Crawford still won’t get it. Crawford could sign with PBC, the same company Spence is with, but it doesn’t guarantee the fight will ever happen.
Crawford leaving Arum and Top Rank
“Bob [Arum] couldn’t secure me the [Errol] Spence fight when I was with him, so how is he going to secure me the Spence fight when I’m not with him? I’m moving forward with my career,” said Crawford at the post-fight press conference.
Crawford sure did sound bitter after the fight. Arum isn’t some magic promoter with the power to force reluctant fighters to agree to fight Crawford.
If Spence wanted to fight Crawford, it would have happened, but obviously, he didn’t, and it appears that he still doesn’t.
Judging by the way Spence dashed out of the Mandalay Bay last Saturday night moments after Crawford’s win over Porter, those are not actions from a fighter that wants to face Terence.
If Crawford was more popular, was able to sell fights, and had charisma, Spence would have fought him by now because the money would have been HUGE. But as we saw with Crawford’s promotion of his fight with Porter and in his previous one against Kell Brook, he can’t market his fights the way needed to create interest.
That’s what Arum has been up against all these years in promoting Crawford. Yeah, he’s a great fighter, but his personality and ability to sell his fights are nowhere.
Kenny Porter on why he stopped the fight
“It doesn’t matter. If I saw what I saw, that was my plan,” said Kenny Porter on him stopping the fight. “I could see it in the training, I could see it in his movements, and I could see it in him looking at the clock to see how long I got to be here today,” Kenny said about Porter’s preparation for the fight.
“I saw things that told me that it was time,” said Kenny on why he stopped the Porter fight. “It was a surprise to me that he went down. I had never seen him go like that, and then what happened after that, he got hurt again.
“I saw him at a deficit. He didn’t have everything it took to protect himself. Coming in here, I wasn’t seeing that same thing in protecting himself. So the most important thing is I’m able to walk away from here, and he’s safe. That’s it,” said Kenny Porter in making it clear that Shawn no longer has what it takes.
