By Chris Williams: Bob Arum says it was “unfair” of Terence Crawford to expect manager Al Haymon to put up a major guarantee for his purse for the Errol Spence Jr fight because he doesn’t work with him.
Haymon is Spence’s manager/adviser, not Crawford, so it made no sense for Crawford to expect him to guarantee his money for a fight with Spence.
Arum feels that was a big problem for why the Spence-Crawford fight didn’t get made. Crawford didn’t have a promoter after leaving Top Rank, which made things even more difficult.
Arum thinks that the Spence vs. Crawford fight would have stood a better chance of happening if Terence had still been promoted by Top Rank because he has a track record of working with PBC from his fights with Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder.
As far as Crawford signing with BLK Prime for an eight-figure title defense of his WBO welterweight belt against David Avanesyan on
December 10th, Arum says Avanesyan has already received his purse. Arum also says that Crawford has gotten a portion of his purse, which makes him believe the fight will go ahead.
“My thought is I don’t know what happened with the negotiation, but I was always somewhat skeptical that they would result in a fight because Crawford had no promoter,” said Bob Arum to Fighthype about the failed negotiations between Errol Spence Jr and Terence Crawford.
“In order to make a deal like that, you have to go in with a promoter, who is prepared to put up a big guarantee for your side. It was unfair for him [Crawford] to look at Al [Haymon] and ask Al to put up a major guarantee because Al had no relationship with him.
“It’s another thing for Spence to put up a big guarantee because Spence has been Al’s fighter. So that was a real problem from the get-go in getting that fight on.
“All the fighters have unrealistic expectations for money. That’s the nature of sports. I’m not vindicated. I don’t give a damn. I tried to make that fight happen, and I wanted to make that fight happen. Obviously, I wanted to make that fight happen.
“I thought at certain points that fight could happen, but hopefully, in the future, that fight will happen.
“Yeah, I was shocked by the announcement [of Crawford fighting David Avanesyan on BLK Prime on December 10th]. It came out of left field, but I knew about it before the announcement was made.
“There’s no blame here. This is a business. Al realizes that the best chance for the fight to happen is if Crawford hadn’t left us, and we would have found a way to get that fight on because we have a whole track record with PBC.
“If Crawford is getting anywhere near ten million to fight Avanesyan, he should change his name to Jessie James.
“Getting the Crawford fight and putting it under their umbrella is one thing. That’s dealing with quality. Signing Adrien Broner is signing a headache. At one point, Broner was a very quality guy, but he was his own worst enemy. Maybe they’ll [BLK Prime] do something to fix that, but for me, I wouldn’t have even contemplated signing a Broner.
“It’s tough [dealing with a fighter like Broner]. It’s generally more trouble than it’s worth.
“I have no idea, I’ve never heard of these guys,” said Arum when asked if he believes the December 10th fight between Crawford and Avanesyan will take place. “But I do know certain things that I can confirm.
“The money paid to Avanesyan has all been paid, and it’s not chump change. I don’t want to go into it because it’s not my business, but I know from Frank Warren that every nickel that’s in that contract is in the bank.
“So that leads me to believe that fight will happen because nobody in their right mind puts up that kind of money and then pisses it away with no fight. So, I really believe that’s a sign that fight will happen.
“I hear Crawford has gotten a big percentage of the purse that has been promised to him, but I don’t know that. But I know the Avanesyan part is done. It’s all paid.
“The guy that would make a really interesting fight is not Thurman [for Errol Spence to face next]. Thurman is saw that, done that. I think the guy that would make a big splash is this Ennis kid.
“I think Ennis is a real talent. I don’t know about beats, not beats. It’s a fight, though. It’s an interesting fight,” said Arum.
