Terence Crawford claims he was willing to bet on himself—figuratively—for the sake of moving forward with a superfight more than four years in the making.
All that the three-division and reigning WBO welterweight titlist allegedly wanted in return was a clear indication of how much there was to be made for their long-discussed undisputed welterweight championship with unified titlist Errol Spence Jr.
Months of negotiations dragged on for months between the teams for the two best welterweights. There are times when it’s worth the wait, such as when an actual fight was produced. This round of talks never produced the biggest fight that fans expected to see in 2022. Additionally, Crawford (38-0, 29KOs) walked away from camps without ever learning how much he stood to make, or so goes his side of the story.
“I never heard of a fighter taking zero guarantee,” Crawford stated during a live Instagram Live session on his verified social media channel. “I never heard a fighter of a four-rounder take a zero guarantee. That’s new to me but that’s something I was willing to do to make this fight happen. A lot of people saying, ‘Terence you ducked. You didn’t ever want to fight Spence.’ I was taking all the risks. I’ll take no guarantee and the less end of the money.
“Whatever it was you want, I’ll take it because I got that much confidence I got that I’ll beat that man. Even though I knew I was getting f------, I just wanted a little transparency. If I was going to bet on myself and go up against all odds. I needed a little transparency.”
Crawford (38-0, 29KOs) contended once talks broke off that the lack of transparency on the side of Al Haymon and Premier Boxing Champions, who guides Spence’s career, was the ultimate dealbreaker.
The switch-hitting three-division champ instead decided to move forward with his career, revealing that he will next face Armenian-Russian contender David Avanesyan. The WBO welterweight title fight will headline a December 10 independent Pay-Per-View to air on subscription-and-video-on-demand service BLK Prime from CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
Crawford will reportedly make a minimum of $10,000,000 for the event. He claimed that there was not any guaranteed money in the pot for the proposed fight with Spence (28-0, 22KOs), the unified WBA/WBC/IBF welterweight champ against whom Crawford was allegedly asked to instead bet on himself.
The 35-year-old Crawford claimed to have conceded to that point, as long as he—as his own boss, after his promotional contract with Top Rank ended earlier this year—was able to have his say and final approval on event-related expenses.
“I needed to write off on things that’s going to affect my check,” admitted Crawford. “Of course, I wanted to see if the numbers were going to add up to what they're telling me. It's just simple to me to think that a person would go in a business 50/50. But this person would tell them, give me 50 percent now and I’ll give you 50 percent later. ‘I’m not gonna tell you how much we made. I’m just gonna give you this. You just gotta trust me.’
“C’mon now. It just don’t make no sense. I never was offered a guarantee, not once. I never was given anything. But they were like, ‘You want this fight? We’re gonna f---- you, and you got what you want.’ That’s how much confidence and faith I had in myself.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
