By Adam Baskin: Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford has confirmed that he’ll get $10 million by BLK Prime to defend his WBO welterweight title against David Avanesyan on pay-per-view on December 10th at the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
Crawford, who recently turned 35 years old, revealed that it’s a one-fight deal with BLK Prime and that he’s already been given half of the money. He’ll get the other half of his loot the week of the fight with Avanesyan (29-3-1, 17 KOs).
Crawford says that with the guaranteed purse being paid to him before the fight, he doesn’t need to worry about whether it’ll be there.
As for what comes next, Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) says he wants to restart negotiations with IBF, WBA & WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr for the undisputed championship.
It’s unclear whether Spence will be up to revisit talks with Crawford, however, because he says he’s unsure what direction to go with his career.
Terence confirms $10M purse for Avanesyan
“I got to get the money,” said Terence Crawford when asked by Brian Custer’s Last Stand podcast if it’s accurate that he’ll be getting $10 million for his fight against David Avanesyan by BLK Prime on December 10th.
“No, it’s a one-fight deal. I don’t know what [Adrien] Broner’s deal & structure is like, but I already got half of my money, and I’m going to get my other half before I even step in the ring a week before.
“That way, I don’t have to worry about whether they have the money or they don’t and have to go through all those hoops in getting paid. My money is already secured.
Crawford plans to restart Spence talks
On why Crawford was negotiating with BLK Prime at the SAME time he was negotiating with PBC and Spence.
“Well, you always got to have a backup plan,” said Crawford. “I basically kept them in the loop and let them [BLK Prime] and that the Spence fight was my main priority. That was the fight that I was mainly focused on, and they understood that, and they kept in touch.
“They let me know that if there was ever an opportunity to host the Terence Crawford fight, they were all up for it. Once the Spence fight fell through, I found out that we weren’t going to fight in November and that they were going to push it all the way until next year.
“At that particular time, I had to do what I had to do,” said Crawford in justifying his decision to walk away from the Spence negotiations.
“We tried our best to get the fight on November 19th, and they [Spence & PBC] was dragging they tail, and the things didn’t meet the terms that we were trying to meet., and I was trying to get a fight this year, so I moved on.
“The mission and the plan are still the same. After this, we can revisit the conversation of me and Errol Spence sharing the ring together and hopefully, we can get that fight locked & ceiled to the fans that want to see the fight,” said Crawford.