Terence Crawford has explained why negotiations for a highly-anticipated undisputed clash with Errol Spence Jr collapsed.
The pair seemed on a collision course, having reportedly agreed terms in September, but now negotiations have gone in a similar direction to that of the proposed Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua fight.
This became clear when Crawford announced he would be defending his WBO title against welterweight contender, David Avanesyan, on December 10, following an offer from new streaming service BLK Prime.
This caused frustration to boil among boxing fans who blamed Crawford for choosing to fight Avanesyan instead of Spence Jr, but now he has taken to Instagram live to explain his side of the story.
According to Crawford, Spence Jr’s manager, Al Haymon, is the real culprit behind the collapse in negotiations, having barred his fighter from taking a deal with $25 million guaranteed.
“Al’s a good dude, Al’s a charming guy and he’s a cool dude,” Crawford said. “I kind of like talking to him, but at the same time, Spence is Al’s guy, I’m not.
“We’re 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 called Spence. He had to go back and ask Al for permission and he didn’t call me back, so I proposed it to Al.
“Al told me, straight up, ‘I’m not letting anybody touch this fight.’
“I’m the only one that was taking all the risks, I told them ‘alright cool, I’ll take no guarantee, I’ll take the lesser end of the money, whatever it is you want, I’ll take it,’ because that’s how much confidence I got that I’m gonna beat that man.
“Even though I know that I was getting f***** in the long run, I just wanted a little transparency. Of course I want to see if the numbers add up to what they telling me.
“I never was offered a guarantee, not once, I never was given anything, but ‘here you want this fight, we gonna f*** you and then you got what you want.’
“So, you mad at me for taking a fight with a tough opponent for a bigger purse, a guarantee that I wasn’t even gonna get. You crazy in the head.
“You expect me to be disrespected, ran over, stepped on and just sit there and take it, that’s crazy.”
Crawford went on to reveal that after his fight with Avanesyan, if he is successful, he still plans to make a fight with Spence Jr, but we will just have to wait and see.
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News Summary:
- Terence Crawford explains how Errol Spence Jr’s manager, Al Haymon, caused negotiations to collapse for undisputed clash
- Check all news and articles from the latest Boxing updates.