By Allan Fox: Errol Spence Jr’s trainer Derrick James is convinced that Terence Crawford lost his temper and threatened some of the crowd members during Thursday’s final press conference for Saturday’s Spence-Crawford event on Showtime PPV.
Although Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) claimed after the press conference that he was trying to de-escalate things, Derrick James and fans on social media felt he was ready to take matters into his own hands by threatening some of the audience.
What is clear is Crawford looked angry, and it wasn’t the first time in the press conference that he erupted. Later on, Crawford exploded in rage over comments Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) made when asked by Brian Custer about his prediction for Saturday night.
Terence was so angry that he stepped on Spence’s attempts at speaking to the audience. It seemed like Crawford was venting and wasn’t going to hold back in letting Spence know precisely what he thought of him. It was disturbing to listen to Crawford’s free association.
If there were a way to cut the mic off during Crawford’s interruptions of Spence’s turn, it would have been appropriate so the press conference could have moved ahead in an orderly fashion.
Did Crawford threaten people?
“It’s time, and really when it’s time, you’re ready to make it happen. That’s really what it’s all about,” said trainer Derrick James about things being heated today during the final press conference for the Spence vs. Crawford fight.
“This isn’t about the last eight weeks. This is about the last 15, 16 years. I knew what he was talking about, but it was disrespectful to a room full of people. In front of a room full of people,” said Derrick about Crawford getting angry and saying things could get “dangerous.”
“That’s crazy. You’re threatening people. Who does that? Real killers don’t do that.”
What’s interesting is how differently Crawford & Spence’s fans view Tereence’s behavior during the press conference.
While Crawford’s fans deny that he threatened an audience member and maintain that he was a class act throughout the press conference, Spence’s fans saw the opposite. They saw angry, bitter, grumpy, hypervigilant Crawford, ready to explode at any given moment.
“I never really said anything about him. Come out, watch the fight. It’s going to be very explosive,” said James about his message to boxing fans sitting on the fence, wondering if they should purchase the Spence vs. Crawford fight on Showtime PPV for $84.99.
“What you saw at the press conference won’t add up to what you’ll see in the ring. You’ll see two great fighters and one undisputed champion. Errol Spence will be the undisputed champion of the world,” said Derrick when asked for his prediction on Saturday’s Spence-Crawford fight.
“I just think that they don’t get it. Yeah, we’ve been here before, and they’ve been here before. Really, he’s [Crawford] the only fighter to be put on pay-per-view and taken off PPV. So, he’s never really ever been here before. He’s never been in a big event,” Derrick said about Crawford.
“Remember when he fought Mean Machine [Egidijus Kavaliauskas]? They put him on PPV and then took him off PPV. It’s never happened before. That’s history,” said James.
Obviously, Crawford has never proven himself to be a PPV fighter, so it wouldn’t have made sense for his former promoters at Top Rank to keep him on PPV.
Even in this fight with Spence, Crawford has appeared irritable during interviews and hasn’t matched the hard work that Spences has put in creating interest in the event.
Why was Crawford so emotional?
“When you know how people feel about you. What kind of real killer does that? You threaten a room full of people on television. Do you know how silly you sound? ‘I’m going to kill you. I don’t want to have to kill you.’ Are you for real? That’s not de-escalation,” said Derrick about an agitated Crawford threatening the crowd at the beginning of the press conference.
“You’re emotional, and you’re threatening a room full of people. Everybody has got hecklers all over the place. I don’t know that,” said James when asked if Crawford sounded mentally weak.
“What you do is you don’t really show what you’re going to do in the ring,” said Derrick when told that Crawford wasn’t using lateral movement during his media workout. “You keep them guessing.
“I think he eventually will, but you never know what will happen,” said James about his belief that Crawford will eventually come forward.
“It’s not fun. It’s work. I have fun on Sunday on my flight to London,” said James about his training job.
