Terence Crawford has spent the entirety of his welterweight title reign in pursuit of the division’s best fighters.
Most of that talent resides under the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) banner, a company with which Crawford’s current promoter Bob Arum and Top Rank do not habitually conduct much business. Crawford is in the final fight of his current contract with Top Rank, fittingly in a WBO welterweight title defense versus a PBC welterweight in former two-time titlist Shawn Porter (31-3-1, 17KOs).
Their November 20 clash at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas marks the sixth fight at welterweight for Crawford and fifth overall title defense. It will be the first versus anyone from PBC, with efforts to secure showdowns versus the likes of Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia and—most notably—unbeaten WBC/IBF titlist and fellow pound-for-pound entrant Errol Spence (27-0, 21KOs) having proven largely unsuccessful.
The working theory is that Crawford can allow his contract to expire with Top Rank and sign with the Al Haymon-created conglomerate to secure such fights. Another suggestion has been that it was the plan all along from the other side, neither scenario fitting well with the 34-year-old Omaha native.
“[Y]ou’re talking about holding me out until my contract end,” Crawford noted during a guest appearance on The Last Stand podcast with host Brian Custer. “That’s a great business move. But at the same time, you gotta look at the fighter. You look at the fighter and you were saying, “F--- me” back then when I was with Top Rank. It was all ‘F--- him, we ain’t doing this, we ain’t doing that because he’s with Top Rank.’
“Now that I’m not with Top Rank [should he not re-sign after the Porter fight], it’s all ‘Oh since you not with Top Rank, come on over here. Let us roll out the red carpet for you.’ That’s kind of weird to me.”
Crawford (37-0, 28KOs) has done his best to solidify his place as among the sport’s top talents, though forced to mostly move sideways since arriving at welterweight. The supremely talented switch-hitter claimed lineal championship status at lightweight and junior welterweight, become undisputed (WBA/WBC/IBF/WBO) at junior welterweight before moving up and becoming a three-division titlist in June 2018.
The fight with Porter was ordered by the WBO earlier this summer, with the two sides ultimately coming to an agreement prior to a rescheduled purse bid hearing in September. Their bout will headline a Top Rank-promoted ESPN Pay-Per-View event, though the next promotional move to be made by Crawford is not yet known—nor even something currently on his mind.
The same goes for his pairing up with any other welterweight under the PBC umbrella.
“Danny Garcia already stated that he’s moving up. Danny’s big for the 147-pound division,” notes Crawford of a fight that once interested him but is no longer under consideration. “I don’t know what Keith Thurman doing. I can’t speak on anybody else.
“My main focus is on Shawn Porter at the end of the day. I’m not overlooking Shawn Porter in any way, shape, form or fashion. Any fight down the line ain’t even on my mind right now. I’m just focused on Shawn Porter right now. Anything else is irrelevant to me.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
