Terence Crawford apparently has little desire to reveal the mysterious backer who wanted to pay him and Errol Spence Jr. a boatload of cash.
Crawford, the WBO welterweight beltholder, recently said during an Instagram Live session that an investor had approached him about offering him and Spence, the WBC, IBF, and WBA titlist, $25 million apiece to stage their undisputed 147-pound championship bout. Crawford said Spence and his advisor, Premier Boxing Champions founder Al Haymon’s reluctance to countenance that offer was a major reason why they could not come to an agreement.
Crawford, 35, declined to name the generous financier during his Instagram monologue.
Shortly thereafter Spence responded to Crawford’s various claims in a string of tweets. Among them, Spence, 32, took issue with the provenance of the $50 million offer, saying Crawford was unable to provide proof of the hedge fund’s legitimacy.
“All money not good money I asked him where the 50 mill coming from who is over the hedge fund/ putting the money up he couldn’t tell me.. I think we all need to just meet in person [cry laughing emoji],” Spence wrote.
“I didn’t you couldn’t tell me who over it names or anything to much bs goin on to be taking money from joe blow I’m cool,” Spence continued.
In a recent interview, Crawford accused Spence of lying. Crawford, however, declined to reveal the name of the hedge fund.
“That’s a lie, that’s a lie,” Crawford said of Spence’s claim on The DAZN Boxing Show. “I’m not going to go into details. I’m not gonna go into details of who it was or what. That’s what I’m not going to do.”
Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) is now scheduled to face David Avanesyan Dec. 10 in Crawford’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, on BLK Prime, a little-known pay-per-view platform that is apparently offering Crawford a generous purse. Asked if BLK Prime was the “hedge fund” in question, Crawford remained tight-lipped. Crawford, moreover, said that Spence had never actually asked about the hedge fund and that if he had, they would have gone further in their talks.
“Just know that I told him (Spence) on the Facetime, like I’m talking to you, and not once did he ever say who was the hedge fund, where the money, this and that. Never in a million years did he ask those types of question. He can go, ‘Oh, I asked him this. If he asked me that then we would have talked further in the negotiations about the money. He never not once asked me. I even brought it to Al. That’s water the bridge.”
“I’m fighting David Avanesyan and that’s where my main focus is at,” Crawford added.