Terence Crawford Answers Why He Hasn’t Joined Al Haymon
Published
on
By
Michael Woods
Terence Crawford laid low after parting ways with Top Rank, by and large, but the Nebraska boxer has been making up for lost time with his activity rate in recent weeks.
The 35 year old hitter went on the DAZN Boxing Show, to be queried by Ak and Barak, and gave an update on the fallout from his notorious Instagram Live session from Nov. 1.
Here are the main takeaways from Bud's DAZN hit:
–Terence Crawford said he hasn’t heard anything from the folks on the PBC side, Al Haymon, or anyone, since he talked on IG. (Click here to read Gayle Falkenthal report on that event.)
Terence Crawford is being more vocal, after years of being pretty quiet.
He said that he’s been blamed for a fight with Errol Spence not getting made, and finally he figured it was time to more so state his case. But he didn't expect to hear from them after pulling pins on grenades.
WILL HAYMON RESPOND TO THE IG SESSION?
How do you think Haymon will respond, and will the Bud session hurt prospects for The Fight getting made, Barak asked Bud. “I don’t know, like I said before Al’s a cool dude, smart, I like talking to him. But at the same time Errol Spence is his guy, and that’s who he’s gonna go to bat for… If you not with him, you’re on the wrong side.” And yes, we have wondered if Bud's openness will spell definite death for his chance to fight Spence.
WHY NOT JUST SIGN ALL IN WITH PBC?
So why not join Team Haymon? Mikey Garcia did… “Mikey Garcia got used to catapult Errol Spence to a different level,” Bud said. Terence Crawford said the Mikey-Haymon relationship was based on Haymon using Garcia, basically, implying he’s not about that.
Ak asked Bud about Haymon’s response at the moment he asked the hidden honcho for transparency regarding the financials for a Crawford-Spence match. The welterweight, who has a bout vs David Avanesyan set for Dec 10, didn’t care to expound on what he shared on IG, and deflected the smart query.
Bud said he's happy with BLK's effort on this promotion and is happy where he's at, with BLK
–Terence Crawford said not everyone was swayed by his presentation, because some people are married to their stance, and won’t move from that.
–He said he’s not unhappy he left Top Rank, stating that things happen for a reason.
–And is there a drop deadline for a Crawford v Spence match? He admitted he’s been tired of lobbying for the fight, but he’s still keen on getting the Texan into the ring. He wants to beat Avanesyan, who is no slouch, he noted, and wants to concentrate on this task at hand. Then, yes, he will get back to pursuing a bout with Spence. (SIDE NOTE: Don't know what the heck is going on with Spence, seems almost like there's a campaign by someone or someones to make him look a certain way.)
More info: Terence Crawford said he started talking in June/July with the folks at BLK Prime, after he sensed maybe his round of talks with Haymon wouldn’t pan out. “I’m happy with where I’m at,” Bud stated. Tix for the Dec 10 scrap are moving very, very well, he shared, and it will be great to be able to do his thing in front of loyal Nebraskans.
–Bud did say it’s BS that Spence contended the Nebraskan didn’t offer specifics on any hedge fund offering $20m or so to both Bud and Errol for a fight. Spence can’t be saying that, he implied, because he didn’t ask anything about the hedgie bags.
SPIN THE BLOCK, NOT SPIN THE BOTTLE
Bud said he will spin the block and revisit the Spence deal and he keeps up hope that Errol will want to revisit the same. Is he worried that Spence will go to 154? He didn’t bite on that.
–Yes, he’s 35–he turned on Sept. 28–is he still in his prime? “Yes,” Terence Crawford declared. “I don’t need boxing right now,” the fighter continued, point being that he doesn’t need the Spence fight to make his legacy. Plus, he is set for life financially, for the record.
–Bud said he will be happy to face Vergil Ortiz Jr; the WBO has mandated Bud defend versus the Texan. No, he’s not wanting to avoid Vergil, pay step aside money to the Golden Boy fighter.
Founder/editor Michael Woods got addicted to boxing in 1990, when Buster Douglas shocked the world with his demolition of the then-impregnable Mike Tyson.
The Brooklyn-based journalist has covered the sport since for ESPN The Magazine, ESPN.com, Bad Left Hook and RING. His journalism career started with NY Newsday in 1999.
Michael Woods is also an accomplished blow by blow and color man, having done work for Top Rank, DiBella Entertainment, EPIX, and for Facebook Fightnight Live, since 2017.