By Chris Williams: Errol Spence Jr’s trainer Derrick James says Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford made a “bad move” with his decision to walk away from negotiations for a fight between his fighter.
James states that the offer given to WBO welterweight champion Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) in the previous negotiations against IBF/WBA/WBC 147-lb champion Spence is NOT the same deal he’ll be offered in the second round of talks if there are any.
In other words, Crawford made a BIG mistake by backing out of the negotiations with Spence to fight David Avanesyan last weekend on BLK Prime.
James isn’t saying why the deal being offered to Crawford won’t be the same, but it could have to do with the pay-per-view numbers that he brought in for his fight with Avanesyan.
If the buy total for Crawford-Avanesyan is meager, as many boxing fans believe it’ll be, then it would be impossible for the 35-year-old Crawford to receive the same deal for a Spence fight.
Crawford’s fight flopping with Avanesyan in terms of PPV buys proves once again that the Omaha, Nebraska native can’t sell on pay-per-view and isn’t worth giving a good deal to because he’s not popular.
In that case, the only thing Crawford has going for him is his lone WBO title, which won’t do much for Spence.
“I don’t know if the fight can go through or not. I think it’s a different negotiation now,” said Errol Spence’s trainer Derrick James to Fighthype about potential talks for a fight between ‘The Truth’ and Terence Crawford.
“It’s not today’s price for real. Yesterday’s price is not today’s price. You think about going to one fight you have this, and you sell this much.
“So this is who you really are. That was like something else. So there’s nothing around you protecting you, so this is who you really are. You can’t negotiate from that perspective.
“There’s nothing really to talk about. You take it, or you keep moving. That was a bad move. That’s all I got to say about that because you found out the truth,” said James.
Does Crawford regret his decision?
You got to wonder if Crawford had a chance to do it all again, would he still have gone in the direction of the Avanesyan rather than stick it out in the negotiations with Spence?
Crawford made a decision’s decision to take the easy payday against Avanesyan may have permanently cost him the opportunity to fight Spence.
As James points out, the deal that Crawford will be offered in the second round of talks won’t be the same, meaning it might not be as sweet as it was the first time.
If Crawford is okay with that, we can still have a fight between him and Spence, but he will have to forget about his pride and realize he made a mistake by not accepting the previous deal when it was on the table.