Terence Crawford has spoken out about his decision to fight David Avenesyan in December rather than continue to pursue a super fight with Errol Spence Jr.
Reports said that negotiations between the two parties were going well, that is, until they weren’t. The fact that Crawford is now a promotional free agent following a split from Top Rank, in the minds of many, should have made the Spence – a PBC fighter – easier to make.
In a video message describing the situation, Crawford’s lack of ties and ability to field any offer may have just been the downfall of the talks.
“Spence is Al [Haymon’s] guy, I’m not. We just going back and forth about the numbers. I have two companies that reach out to me that wanted to give me and Spence $25 million, guaranteed. So, a real guy like myself, I call Spence. He had to go back and ask Al for permission. He didn’t call me back, so I proposed it to Al. Al told me straight up ‘I’m not letting nobody touch this fight.’”
“I told him all right cool, I’ll take no guarantee, I’ll takes the less end of the money. Whatever it is you want, I’ll take it, because that’s how much confidence I got that I’mma beat that man. Even though I know I was getting f***ed in the long run, I just wanted a little transparency. Of course I want to see if the numbers add up to what they’re telling me.”
“I never was offered a guarantee. Not once. I never was given anything but ‘here you want this fight? We’re gonna f**k you.’”
“So you mad at me for taking a fight with a tough opponent for a bigger a purse, a guarantee that I wasn’t even going to get? You crazy in the head … You expect me to be disrespected, ran over, stepped on, and just sit there and just take it. That’s crazy.”
Crawford then directed his final message to Spence, whom he accused of not being the decision maker.
“Tell the truth, buddy. I called you and told you listen we’ve got this bread on the table, what is you doing? You’re not your own boss, my dude. So stop saying that you’re your own boss. Stop saying that you’re the truth, and you’re this and you’re that – but you’ve got to answer to a lot of people, my dude.”
Terence Crawford sends a message to Errol Spence: “Stop saying you’re your own boss.”
[🎥 @TerenceCrawford] pic.twitter.com/B5dN86cwOf
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) November 2, 2022
Given that we now have Crawford facing Avanesyan on December 10, and Spence Jr is reported to be putting his IBF, WBA, and WBC welterweight titles on the line against Keith Thurman a week later, fans may just be looking at a one fight delay.
Crawford did say in his video that his intentions were still to fight and beat Spence. Having said that, the he-said-she-said vibe that’s beginning to come around could make the next round of negotiations that bit harder.