Bob Arum: "I could build a house in Beverly Hills on the money I’ve lost on Crawford in the last three fights!"

[Enlightened-One]

Boxing scribe, Vivek Wallace posted his own thoughts about the Crawford-Arum situation:

Shots Fired? Bob Arum Airs Out Personal Issues with Terence Crawford - Does He Have a Point?

Immediately following Terence Crawford's victory over Kell Brook, Bob Arum sang his praises, saying the undefeated mythical P4P head could have competed in the "Sugar" Ray Leonard era, and is as good as it gets. Whether that's true or false can be debated, but what can't be debated is that we saw a very similar sequence of events a few years ago with another young African American fighter eager to carve out his own lane as the mythical P4P king in the sport, SHORTLY BEFORE HE WALKED AWAY FROM THE PROMOTER FOR GOOD. (Floyd Mayweather).

To put things into perspective, here's how the past 10 days have gone for Bob Arum and Terence Crawford: On approximately the 6th of November, Bob Arum received a letter from attorney's representing Terence Crawford that allegedly told Arum he would need to (in essence) do a better job securing major fights for Crawford, or they would look to execute a buyout or alternative measures to get out of the remaining portion of the contract which ends in October of 2021.

This happened on the heels of a previous incident when Arum attempted to use the Lopez v Lomachenko fight promotion to promote the pending clash between Crawford and Brook. Rather than going along with the effort, Team Crawford "sabotaged the promotion" (according to Mike Coppinger) by delaying their signing of the fight until AFTER the Lopez v Loma fight promotion. An already tense relationship got worst at that stage, and after last Saturday night's comments from Arum, appears to have deteriorated totally. Here's what the promoter had to say only moments after praising Crawford for his victory over Brook:

"The question is, 'Do we want to keep him?' I could build a house in Beverly Hills on the money I've lost on him in the last three fights. He's got to promote himself like [Teofimo] Lopez does, like Shakur [Stevenson] does, like [Floyd] Mayweather did, like [Manny] Pacquiao did. If he doesn't, then who the f*** needs him? He may be the greatest fighter in the world, but hey, I ain't going bankrupt promoting him". VERY STRONG WORDS! But how true are they?

[jamesmcdonnell]

Its impossible to build a following without either a huge defining fight or lots of promotion.

Floyd didn't become a household name until he fought oscar.

Agreed!

Mayweather was wise enough to invest in himself, by being willing to be on the B-side against De La Hoya (accepting a 30% purse split) and also paying $750K to end his contract with Top Rank.

His initial investment provided long-term opportunities, because beating De La Hoya made him a PPV star overnight and becoming a free agent eventually gave him the freedom to negotiate his mega-money deal with Showtime.

In stark contrast, Bob Arum insists that any Crawford-Spence Jr. fight could only be made if was done on a 50-50 split basis, despite the fact that Errol’s commercial numbers being vastly superior to Bud’s, coupled with the fact the PBC are already capable of staging marquee bouts involving their own in-house fighters.

In the meantime, Crawford is facing a seemingly endless stream of nobodies and has-been’s.

People forget that floyd before that was really only known by hardcore boxing fans.

Certainly beating brook who is not even a household name in the UK isnt going to cut it.

Boxing is a business, raw talent isnt enough to become a star.

[Enlightened-One]

At least Bud will have an extra $1m to play with come January.

The Todd duBoef quote in the above Tweet also seems interesting.

[Enlightened-One]

[tiny_acres]

Who do you think Crawford will sign with next year?

[DrDuke]

Probably it'll be better, if Crawford doesn't resign with Top Rank, as the division's best are with PBC.

[Enlightened-One]

Who do you think Crawford will sign with next year?

Here's a summary of what Eddie Hearn discussed during yesterday's interview with iFL TV:

• He claimed that Bud hasn't resonated with the US public.
• He doesn't feel the Crawford-Spence Jr. bout holds much commercial value, because of the lack of interest from mainstream casuals.
• He expects Matchroom and other promoters to start dropping fighters from their rosters soon, because purses have spiralled out of control and it doesn't make any commercial sense (in the current economic climate) to invest in boxers that aren't delivering numbers.
• He admitted that Matchroom would very likely suffer from the same problem as Top Rank, because he feels that he'd lose money staging bouts between Crawford and has-beens like Amir Khan and Kell Brook.
• He said he couldn't guarantee his ability to deliver marquee bouts for Bud against the likes of Pacquiao and Spence Jr. And therefore, wouldn't be willing to take the risk of signing Crawford knowing he'd very likely lose money.
• Eddie said that Top Rank were excellent promoters and if they couldn't deliver big fights for Crawford, then he probably can't.

You have to imagine that most of the promoters and networks that aren't affiliated with the PBC will probably face the same issues Eddie mentioned.

Also, Crawford will be approaching 34 years of age for his next outing. He's too old to build his brand. And by Bud's own admission, he only does interviews with a select few journalists, which means he doesn't do his upmost to promote himself.

And with Manny Pacquiao likely to face Mikey Garcia next and Errol Spence Jr's schedule fully booked until 2022 (Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter and Keith Thurman), who is capable of providing Crawford with big paydays at 147lbs against decent opposition?

Therefore, assuming Crawford does indeed leave Top Rank, then I really can't imagine him working with anyone other than the PBC.

[Jimmy2020]

Eddie has summed professional boxing up. How good a boxer you are is way down the list of what matters. Amateur boxing is best for purists. Pro boxing is crap for cheerleading schmucks.

[skanksta]

The answer is Crawford's mum !
She's vile, hilarious and a box-office trash-talker with the accent of a serial killer. Put her in front of the camera and she'll sell the fights ! Danny Garcia's dad does this well, but she got nothin' on Momma Crawford.
Let Bud do the fighting.

Matchroom/Top Rank pay attention and give me some free tickets for the idea

[Thomastearns]

Eddie has summed professional boxing up. How good a boxer you are is way down the list of what matters. Amateur boxing is best for purists. Pro boxing is crap for cheerleading schmucks.

Ouch! Truth sometimes hurts.

"Pro boxing is crap for cheerleading schmucks." Especially the paying kind.
$90 PPV anyone?

How else do you explain 33 year old Crawford whose best name is a battle worn 34 year old Brook?

Who's managed to somehow avoid all of the top welterweights until they were well past their best.

Whose next target is a 41 year old?

Yet boxing wasn't always this way, was it?

At least some of today's audience are the discerning kind unwilling to throw their money away in such fashion. If some of these protected multimillionaires want more of our money they will have to earn it.

If not, then they may as well step aside and let those gladiators still willing to fight have a chance.

[Enlightened-One]

“I don’t give a s*** if [his team] got mad at me. This business is not about getting mad. What’d I say that was wrong? This business is about facts and the reality of the situation,” said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum to The Athletic.

“I’ll show him how much we’ve lost on his fights… I’m no longer in the business of losing money on Terence Crawford,” said Arum. “If we did this fight with Spence and put our money in for half, and Crawford wins and [Al] Haymon wants to sign him, be my guest, for Christ’s sake.”

“In other words, I am not going to go into my pocket anymore for Terence Crawford,” said Arum.

“I don’t have to make a lot of money with him on this [the Errol Spence fight], but I know I’ll break even or make a couple of dollars. I’m no longer in the business of losing money on Terence Crawford,” said Arum.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I think this is all a stunt or that they're both well aware of that they're saying to the media.

Crawford teased elaving TR during the Brook fight

It's getting attention.. Dana White, Hearn, Porter and others have all commented on these recent Arum comments.

Getting more people talking about Arum and Crawford..

[Enlightened-One]

Speaking to the AK and BARAK Show on SiriusXM, Crawford was asked about those comments. The 33-year-old said, “That’s cool… That’s cool, if that’s what he said then, that’s cool. Personally, if he feels that way, he can release me now. He can just release me. If you feel like you don’t… or I’m not an asset to your company, you release me right now.”



"The [Errol Spence Jr.] fight is not that important!

"I keep telling everybody, it's not that important!

"I don't need Errol Spence for my legacy.

"I don't know why people trying to make it seem like I need Errol Spence. He needs me. I don't need him. I keep telling people, they don't know s**t about boxing!"

[Enlightened-One]

Bob Arum was interviewed recently claiming that Terence Crawford didn’t want to fight PBC guys like Porter, Thurman, Ugas etc.

He also claimed that Top Rank's business rivalry with the PBC wasn't the reason why Crawford wasn't facing any of the top dogs at 147lbs!

Apparently, Crawford is only interested in Pacquiao and Spence Jr... and no one else!

Bob Arum: “There are plenty of fighters [Crawford can face].

“He doesn’t want to fight Shawn Porter, but Porter was available.

“What’s his name? Thurman is available.

“A lot of guys are available, I mean… Ugas is available.

“A lot of welterweights are available that [Crawford] can fight!”

"I assure you that the PBC is not trying to freeze Top Rank out! That's not the case!

"Wake up and smell the roses!

"Al [Haymon] is not stupid! He realises if he has a fight with one of [Top Rank's] fighters. He would rather do it with [Top Rank] to get his hands on that revenue, than do it without [Top Rank]"

"It's just a business decision! It has nothing to do with like or dislike or freezing out!"

"Business is business!"

[Enlightened-One]

"Arum Stands By Crawford Comments, Disinterested in Promoting His Fights"

Top Rank chairman Bob Arum has taken heat for the comments he recently made about losing money on welterweight world titlist Terence Crawford fights and how Crawford, in his view, needs to do a better job bringing attention to himself, but Arum said he doesn’t care about the criticism and stands by his comments.

“I don’t give a sh-t,” Arum told BS. “I don’t care because what (the Crawford camp) did was reprehensible. The lawyer sent a letter to us. OK, that’s fine. That’s what lawyers do. But you don’t release it to the press. All of this should have been behind closed doors like what men do. I’m not going to take this sh-t. I’m just not going to do it, because the truth is I’ve lost money with this guy.”

Arum said it has angered him so much he isn’t even interested in promoting future fight involving Crawford, one of boxing’s elite pound-for-pound fighters.

“It will be another hit on my net worth,” Arum said. “I’m being serious. I turned the whole project of Crawford over to (Top Rank president and Arum stepson) Todd (duBoef). I washed my hands of it. I’m too emotional about it. There was this last kerfuffle with the Brook fight when he didn’t sign the contracts so we couldn’t promote on (the) Lomachenko-Lopez (telecast). I have long since departed working with Crawford.”

At issue, Arum said, was that after Top Rank and Crawford agreed to terms on the Brook fight Crawford had the contract for two weeks but declined to sign the paperwork. Arum wanted it signed so they could launch the promotion in a major way during the Vasiliy Lomachenko-Teofimo Lopez ESPN telecast on Oct. 17, which averaged a very strong 1.534 million viewers for the entire 5-hour, 47-minute broadcast, including an average of 2.729 million viewers for the main event. Crawford wound up signing the paperwork during the telecast, leading to only a brief mention of the upcoming fight.

“We kept telling them sign the f--king contract because what they were up to was to start promoting it, not have a signed contract and start a renegotiation,” the 88-year-old Arum said. “I want a signed contract. They had it for two weeks. If it was up to me I couldn’t handle it (another Crawford fight). I’m too old to handle this. I’ve taken it off my agenda. Whatever Todd wants to do.”

After Crawford stopped Brook, Arum made his controversial comments to The Athletic, saying of Crawford, “He’s got to promote like Lopez does. He’s got to promote like Shakur (Stevenson) does… like (Floyd) Mayweather did, like (Manny) Pacquiao did. If he doesn’t, then who the f---k needs him? He may be the greatest fighter in the world, but, hey, I ain’t going bankrupt promoting him.

“The question is, ‘Do we want to keep him?’ I could build a house in Beverly Hills on the money I’ve lost on him in the last three fights, a beautiful home. Nobody questions Crawford’s innate, tremendous ability. By beating a naturally bigger guy (Brook), decisively, that’s a big statement that’s he’s making. The question is, ‘Does he pay the bills?’ Look, you can have the greatest opera singer in the world. If the fans don’t support it, you’re out of business.”

[caldo2025]

What would really be refreshing would be if some intelligent ACTIVE and ELITE fighters put their heads and bank accounts together to form a multi-level promotional partnerships to box out these longstanding businessman that never took a punch inside the ring but have so much blame to share in killing the sport.

The top 1% of fighters control 99% of the PPV attention and demand. Imagine if those 10-15 fighters put their thinking caps on and dropped the bogus bravado act to form working partnerships that could revolutionize the sport to where it should be?

If you take the revenue prospects away from these dopes like Bob Arum, do you think that they would stick around to fight the rest for the crumbs? Never.

[p4p1]

Bob Arum is supposed to be the promoter. Terence Crawford's job is to fight, which he does very well.

All Arum has to do is let Bud fight good welterweights like Spence and the revenue will flow. But the truth is, Arum has been doing a poor job with many of his boxers.

Bud needs to break away Arum and signing with PBC.

That's very naive. It's hard to promote a fighter who refuses to assist the process. You have to get people to watch you.

Agreed, promotion is part of his job. Well that's not strictly true I guess. Promotion is part of his job if he wants to get paid well is probably more accurate. Calling a jounro an asshole for not kissing your ass would give you more coverage than refusing to be interviewed by them.

[Bard of Boxrec]

Crawford just comes across as gormless, utterly devoid of personality. He needs to understand that it takes two to tango. Maybe he’s just content with the amount he’s been overpaid so far, but if he wants more than that, time is running out to become marketable in some way

[gilgamesh]

Crawford just comes across as gormless, utterly devoid of personality. He needs to understand that it takes two to tango. Maybe he’s just content with the amount he’s been overpaid so far, but if he wants more than that, time is running out to become marketable in some way

He seems content to just keep doing what he's doing and call everyone that expects more of him haters. At one time I thought very highly of Crawford, but I've lost a lot of respect for him with the way he's handled his career, and interviews about his career in the past few years.

[tiny_acres]

When Arum signed Crawford. He knew he had only one option at the time for a true ppv opponent. That was Pacquiao.
Arum didn't get the fight made when Pac was still under his contract. We can blame Crawford for not signing with pbc when they had all the other top Welterweights.
But Arum had a chance to make a true ppv fight Crawford vs Pacquiao. Arum blew it

[Thomastearns]

Crawford just comes across as gormless, utterly devoid of personality. He needs to understand that it takes two to tango. Maybe he’s just content with the amount he’s been overpaid so far, but if he wants more than that, time is running out to become marketable in some way

He seems content to just keep doing what he's doing and call everyone that expects more of him haters. At one time I thought very highly of Crawford, but I've lost a lot of respect for him with the way he's handled his career, and interviews about his career in the past few years.

It's pretty obvious that the overpaid Crawford could not care less.

Chasing Pacquiao is not going to win him many more fans.

Yet it hard to blame him entirely, wouldn't we all rather take the easiest path to immense riches if we were in his place?

Although it's easy to forget, this sport exists entirely due to its paying fans. Only those fans can ultimately determine who Crawford fights next. The same fans who've made him a millionaire many times over. Let's not forget.

If you don't like his previous work, then don't pay him.

[gilgamesh]

Crawford just comes across as gormless, utterly devoid of personality. He needs to understand that it takes two to tango. Maybe he’s just content with the amount he’s been overpaid so far, but if he wants more than that, time is running out to become marketable in some way

He seems content to just keep doing what he's doing and call everyone that expects more of him haters. At one time I thought very highly of Crawford, but I've lost a lot of respect for him with the way he's handled his career, and interviews about his career in the past few years.

It's pretty obvious that the overpaid Crawford could not care less.

Chasing Pacquiao is not going to win him many more fans.

Yet it hard to blame him entirely, wouldn't we all rather take the easiest path to immense riches if we were in his place?

Although it's easy to forget, this sport exists entirely due to its paying fans. Only those fans can ultimately determine who Crawford fights next. The same fans who've made him a millionaire many times over. Let's not forget.

If you don't like his previous work, then don't pay him.

Yeah. The overpaying of these fighters is probably why this has been the weakest 5 or 6 years since I've started following the sport. Nobody has any real incentive to put together the major fights anymore. They can be a multi-millionaire fighting Lower Top 10 contenders. Why would you fight somebody that's actually dangerous for a few million more when you could just beat up 3 easier opponents, and make the same money.

The overpaying bubble is gonna have to burst to get this sport back to where it needs to be. Among many other bubbles.

[Bard of Boxrec]

You would think it’d have to end for simple economic reasons, staggering it’s even gone on this long.