By Allan Fox: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says Terence Crawford could be working with his company again soon in a fight against Josh Taylor if the Scottish fighter moves up to 147 after his fight against Jack Catterall on February 26th.
‘The Tartan Tornado’ Taylor, 30, is one of the two options for Crawford’s next fight in the first half of 2022. Crawford isn’t going to get a fight with Errol Spence Jr. or Yordenis Ugas in the first half of next year because those two are facing each other.
It’s also safe to say that Crawford won’t fight Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis because he’s too dangerous to fight in a voluntary defense.
Former WBA/WBC welterweight champion Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman is the other option, but he has a fight against Mario Barrios on February 5th, and he could lose that match.
If Thurman gets beaten by Barrios, Taylor will be in the catbird seat to get the lucrative fight with Crawford, as long as he’s willing to go up to 147 to face him.
Taylor (18-0, 13 KOs) will be defending his undisputed light welterweight titles against Catterall (26-0, 13 KOs) on ESPN at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.
Crawford vs. Taylor is possible
It’ll be up to Taylor if he wants to take the fight with Crawford because it’s one that he would readily agree to if Top Rank mentions it to him.
“He’s right. We had a contract with him, and he’s lived up to his contract, and we’ve lived up to our contract,” said Bob Arum to iFL TV on Terence Crawford, choosing not to re-up with Top Rank after his contract expired after his last fight with Shawn Porter last November.
“We got him the Porter fight, which was a big victory, and now he’s a free agent, and he’s going to look around for the best possible opportunity,” Arum continued.
“Why should that be different in boxing than it should for any other sport? A baseball player, a football player, when he’s out of his contract, he’s a free agent, and he looks to make the best deal possible, and everybody says, ‘Fine, that’s natural.’
“Well, as far as Terence Crawford is concerned, it’s natural. We’ll come up with the best deal, and he’s used to dealing with us. I’m sure it’ll be acceptable to him.
“For example, if we have him fight Josh Taylor and Josh Taylor comes up [to 147], and we make it advantageous economically for Crawford and Taylor, he’ll [Terence] go with that,” said Arum.
Terence will go with whoever has the best deal
There aren’t going to be any offers coming Crawford’s way in the first half of next year because the top guys, Spence and Ugas, are going to be fighting each other.
“Now, if someone comes up with the [Errol] Spence fight and they’re offering him a lot of money, he’ll go with that. There’s nothing wrong with that,” said Arum.
“People get kind of crazy because in this era, there are long-term contracts and then, ‘Well, he’s left you and so forth.’ No, he’s finished his contract. He’s done his contract, and he’s earned what he was supposed to learn.
“Now, he has to look for the best possible deal that’s out there. That’s the way it used to be.
“Going back to the 80s and 90s, particularly the 80s when you had all these great [Sugar Ray] Leonard and [Tommy] Hearns and [Marvin] Hagler, nobody had long-term contracts.
“Yet I did in the nine fights that they had, I did seven of the nine, but without tying anybody to a particular contract other than the fight contract.
“No, it’s a little different with Terence,” said Arum when asked if Crawford can dictate to the promoters like Canelo Alvarez is as a free agent.
“Terence is a great, great talent, but he’s not a great draw, although we did sell out the Mandalay Bay [in Las Vegas] when he fought [Shawn] Porter [on November 20th],” said Arum.