Terence Crawford Files Lawsuit against Top Rank

[Ruthless-RKO]

Terence Crawford accuses Bob Arum of 'bias favoring white and Latino fighters' in lawsuit against Top Rank

Welterweight champion Terence Crawford filed a lawsuit Wednesday against his former promoter Top Rank in Nevada, alleging racial bias on the part of the company's chairman, Bob Arum.

The suit alleges that the 90-year-old Arum "continues to make racist and bigoted statements and purposefully damage the reputations of Black boxers."

Crawford, who is Black, signed with Top Rank in 2011 and rose to prominence, winning titles in three weight classes on his way to worldwide recognition. He's currently ESPN's No. 1 welterweight and No. 2 pound-for-pound boxer.

The suit also claims that "Arum's sordid history with athletes of color, especially Black fighters, and his bias favoring white and Latino fighters is well-documented and known throughout the boxing world," and that "Arum makes no secret of his deep-seated bias against Black fighters."

"Bud Crawford's lawsuit against Top Rank is frivolous," Arum said in a statement later Wednesday. "His vile accusations of racism are reckless and indefensible. He knows it, and his lawyer knows it. I have spent my entire working life as a champion of Black boxers, Latino boxers, and other boxers of color. I have no doubt the Court will see Crawford's case for the malicious extortion attempt that it is."

Crawford, 34, is seeking damages to be determined at trial in excess of $5.4 million, money the fighter claims he lost due to Top Rank's failure to deliver a second fight in year two of the extension he signed in 2018, along with its inability to offer him a bout with Errol Spence Jr.

The suit claims that when Crawford signed to fight Egidijus Kavaliauskas in 2019, the agreement included a $900,000 payment if Top Rank didn't in good faith offer Crawford a bout with Spence by the end of 2020.

"It is unfortunate that Top Rank did not treat Terence properly and in fact spoke out regularly against him," Crawford's attorney, Bryan Freedman, told ESPN.

Freedman also represented Mikey Garcia in his 2014 suit against Top Rank, which led to the parties terminating his promotional agreement after Garcia was sidelined for nearly three years.

"Unlike other boxers bound to Top Rank contracts, Terence can assert his claims in court without Top Rank forcing him to sit out," Freedman said. "Make no mistake, that is a game-changer."

Crawford claims breach of contract as well as fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation. He also alleges that Arum made disparaging comments about him in an effort to harm his reputation and impact future prospects with a new promoter. The suit points to Arum's 2020 remark that he "could build a house in Beverly Hills on the money I've lost on him in the last three fights."

Crawford made $6 million for his November pay-per-view bout against Shawn Porter, the last fight of his deal with Top Rank. The Omaha, Nebraska-born fighter made $3.5 million for the Kell Brook bout, $4.8 million for his fight with Amir Khan and $4 million for the matchup with Kavaliauskas.

The suit also points to comments Arum made in 2019 regarding the difficulty in making a Crawford-Spence fight with PBC founder Al Haymon, who advises Spence: "He's gonna say, 'Spence, listen to me. Don't listen to the white guys, because if you listen to the white guys they're gonna steer you down the road. Listen to me, brother. We're part of a brotherhood. And if I tell you not to fight Crawford, I'm telling you not to fight Crawford.' That's exactly what he will say."

[gregregegg]

Geezes Christ… can’t see that making any other promoters wanting to work with him.

Weirdly American promoters do have racial biases (in stable at least) I don’t quite get it, if it’s the promoter looking out for there own, if it’s aiming for a market or just coincidence but top rank is pretty white, pbc is pretty black and golden boy is pretty Mexican.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Geezes Christ… can’t see that making any other promoters wanting to work with him.

Weirdly American promoters do have racial biases (in stable at least) I don’t quite get it, if it’s the promoter looking out for there own, if it’s aiming for a market or just coincidence but top rank is pretty white, pbc is pretty black and golden boy is pretty Mexican.

He could have raked it

[Enlightened-One]

FFS!

Bob Arum is a dislikable guy but he’s not racist.

The only colour that guy cares about is green!

Terence Crawford is a fûckîng lunatic!

Talk about burning bridges! Bud is sabotaging his own career!

[Ruthless-RKO]

[ironbeard]

I can’t see that link or whatever it is in the first post, Ruthless1.

The link below is to a relatively comprehensive NY Post article.

https://nypost.com/2022/01/12/terence- ... is-career/

[Ruthless-RKO]

I can’t see that link or whatever it is in the first post, Ruthless1.

The link below is to a relatively comprehensive NY Post article.

https://nypost.com/2022/01/12/terence- ... is-career/

Yeh, the NYP did report this first.

[ironbeard]

I can’t see that link or whatever it is in the first post, Ruthless1.

The link below is to a relatively comprehensive NY Post article.

https://nypost.com/2022/01/12/terence- ... is-career/

Yeh, the NYP did report this first.

For some reason, in the last few weeks, I have been drawing blanks on quite a number of your posts. Literally blank posts.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I can’t see that link or whatever it is in the first post, Ruthless1.

The link below is to a relatively comprehensive NY Post article.

https://nypost.com/2022/01/12/terence- ... is-career/

Yeh, the NYP did report this first.

For some reason, in the last few weeks, I have been drawing blanks on quite a number of your posts. Literally blank posts.

Ah strange.

I can see the link of the first page..

It did say tweet unavailable at one point.

[ironbeard]

Yeh, the NYP did report this first.

For some reason, in the last few weeks, I have been drawing blanks on quite a number of your posts. Literally blank posts.

Ah strange.

I can see the link of the first page..

It did say tweet unavailable at one point.

Now it is there.

[H8Usernames]

Terrence Crawford is right that there was racism involved but that racism is Bud's hate for Bob because Bob is jewish.

[margaret thatcher]

[ironbeard]

TCraw has every right to sue. We will see where it goes.

What is ridiculous is a promoter contracted to promote an individual spent so much time belittling the promotion chops of the person he is supposed to promote.

Whether or not TCraw wins the lawsuit, Arum did a miserably piss poor job promoting him.

[Perkin Warbeck]

Bob Arum is not a racist.

However, he's done a poor job during the past 10-12 years of promoting Crawford, as well as many other boxers of all races and nationalities.

The truth is, Arum is getting too old to be an effective promoter, he's age 90 now.

[margaret thatcher]

he's easily one of the top promoters in the game still, let's be honest. 99 percent are just tiny fish compared to him

i'd say al haymon's better, but omg he aint a promoter

[maverick23]

Bob Arum is not a racist.

However, he's done a poor job during the past 10-12 years of promoting Crawford, as well as many other boxers of all races and nationalities.

The truth is, Arum is getting too old to be an effective promoter, he's age 90 now.

I agree. Arum isn’t racist but he did a piss poor job promoting Bud.

Top Rank are still really good promoters but Bob, at times, doesn’t help. Particularly with some of the comments he made about the popularity of Bud and the money he’s lost on him. Whilst it may well be true, it doesn’t need to be said, especially by your promoter.

I think Top Rank will win the case but if you’re a young black fighter looking to sign with someone it may put some doubt in your mind about signing with Top Rank.

Perhaps it’s time that Bob moved into the background and TR have another mouthpiece for the company.

[Enlightened-One]

Arum isn’t racist but he did a piss poor job promoting Bud.

To be fair, most fighters play the game, and know they have a responsibility to promote themselves. And Crawford really didn’t do that, did he?

Terence Crawford openly admitted to only being willing to attend interviews with select journalists. There are videos of him saying this.

There are also videos of him saying he’s no longer interested in Errol Spence Jr.

And there are videos of him attending press conferences, appearing distracted… or even bored, only giving one word answers… those that he attended with Porter are a great example.

He also very rarely appears in front of the TV cameras, unless he’s obliged to do so for one of his own bouts.

And finally, a lot of fighters align themselves with one or more YouTube channels (i.e. Behind the Gloves, Fight Hype, iFL TV etc), but he doesn’t do this either.

I’m not for one second suggesting that Bob Arum isn’t blameless, but back in January 2018, everybody knew the consequences of Crawford’s decision to renew his contract with Top Rank a long time before he made it.

Here’s a post I submitted to this forum January 2018, which stated that Crawford shouldn’t extend his contract with Top Rank (and six month later, he ended up renewing his deal with Bob Arum):

"Will Terence Crawford leave Top Rank during 2018?"

Top Rank took over the promotional rights of Terence Crawford from TKO Boxing Promotions on the 16th June, 2011.

Terence Crawford then agreed to extend his contract with Bob Arum’s company when he signed a three-year extension on the September 16th 2014, which means it’s due to expire in nine months’ time.

I can’t verify this, since the tweets have been subsequently deleted from his account, but I believe that Crawford was upset about how HBO were not marketing his name as heavily as Lomachenko's, with blame partially falling on Top Rank’s shoulders. A complaint that Bud articulated several times.

Apparently Bob Arum is trying to orchestrate a bout between Terence Crawford and Jeff Horn for the 21st April at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, which will be Bud’s first bout at 147lbs after enduring an eight month period of inactivity, with the American currently being 30lbs overweight.

It seems that the vast majority of the top-ten world-rated, big name and governing body ranked 147lb-ers are aligned with Al Haymon, such as:

• Keith Thurman
• Errol Spence Jr.
• Shawn Porter
• Danny Garcia
• Lamont Peterson
• Jessie Vargas
• Andre Berto
• Luis Collazo
• Devon Alexander
• Adrien Broner
• Amir Khan
• Omar Figueroa Jr.
• Victor Ortiz
• Jamal James
• Fabian Maidana

Bob Arum has stated on several occasions that Haymon’s boxers are overpaid, with the likes of Thurman and Garcia commanding double the purses that Crawford is currently earning, which is one of the reasons why we don’t get to see many of the PBC’s fighters facing those being promoted by Top Rank.

There’s hardly any evidence of fights being staged between Haymon and Top Rank affiliated fighters, which means that Terence Crawford may never get to fulfil his ambition of facing all of the top dogs in the welterweight division.

Therefore, will Terence Crawford consider leaving Top Rank during 2018 if they cannot promise to deliver him the biggest fights at 147lbs?

Crawford made his own bed, by choosing the paycheque instead of sporting legacy!

At the end of the day, Crawford didn’t try to sell himself and this hurt his viewing figures.

Bud had negotiated a $4m minimum purse guarantee per bout and Top Rank didn’t have any world-rated welterweights in their stable to match him against.

So for Crawford to engage in marquee bouts against genuinely elite-level opposition, it would have cost Top Rank a lot of money (i.e. having to pay a massive Bud payday, coupled with tiny PPV buy-rates or only moderate audience viewing figures).

The crazy thing is this… none of this is new. No one can say all this hasn’t been discussed at length time-and-time again by this forum, but suddenly Crawford accuses Bob Arum of racial bias? Gimme a break!

[maverick23]

Arum isn’t racist but he did a piss poor job promoting Bud.

To be fair, most fighters play the game, and know they have a responsibility to promote themselves. And Crawford really didn’t do that, did he?

Terence Crawford openly admitted to only being willing to attend interviews with select journalists. There are videos of him saying this.

There are also videos of him saying he’s no longer interested in Errol Spence Jr.

And there are videos of him attending press conferences, appearing distracted… or even bored, only giving one word answers… those that he attended with Porter are a great example.

He also very rarely appears in front of the TV cameras, unless he’s obliged to do so for one of his own bouts.

And finally, a lot of fighters align themselves with one or more YouTube channels (i.e. Behind the Gloves, Fight Hype, iFL TV etc), but he doesn’t do this either.

I’m not for one second suggesting that Bob Arum isn’t blameless, but back in January 2018, everybody knew the consequences of Crawford’s decision to renew his contract with Top Rank a long time before he made it.

Here’s a post I submitted to this forum January 2018, which stated that Crawford shouldn’t extend his contract with Top Rank (and six month later, he ended up renewing his deal with Bob Arum):

"Will Terence Crawford leave Top Rank during 2018?"

Top Rank took over the promotional rights of Terence Crawford from TKO Boxing Promotions on the 16th June, 2011.

Terence Crawford then agreed to extend his contract with Bob Arum’s company when he signed a three-year extension on the September 16th 2014, which means it’s due to expire in nine months’ time.

I can’t verify this, since the tweets have been subsequently deleted from his account, but I believe that Crawford was upset about how HBO were not marketing his name as heavily as Lomachenko's, with blame partially falling on Top Rank’s shoulders. A complaint that Bud articulated several times.

Apparently Bob Arum is trying to orchestrate a bout between Terence Crawford and Jeff Horn for the 21st April at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, which will be Bud’s first bout at 147lbs after enduring an eight month period of inactivity, with the American currently being 30lbs overweight.

It seems that the vast majority of the top-ten world-rated, big name and governing body ranked 147lb-ers are aligned with Al Haymon, such as:

• Keith Thurman
• Errol Spence Jr.
• Shawn Porter
• Danny Garcia
• Lamont Peterson
• Jessie Vargas
• Andre Berto
• Luis Collazo
• Devon Alexander
• Adrien Broner
• Amir Khan
• Omar Figueroa Jr.
• Victor Ortiz
• Jamal James
• Fabian Maidana

Bob Arum has stated on several occasions that Haymon’s boxers are overpaid, with the likes of Thurman and Garcia commanding double the purses that Crawford is currently earning, which is one of the reasons why we don’t get to see many of the PBC’s fighters facing those being promoted by Top Rank.

There’s hardly any evidence of fights being staged between Haymon and Top Rank affiliated fighters, which means that Terence Crawford may never get to fulfil his ambition of facing all of the top dogs in the welterweight division.

Therefore, will Terence Crawford consider leaving Top Rank during 2018 if they cannot promise to deliver him the biggest fights at 147lbs?

Crawford made his own bed, by choosing the paycheque instead of sporting legacy!

At the end of the day, Crawford didn’t try to sell himself and this hurt his viewing figures.

Bud had negotiated a $4m minimum purse guarantee per bout and Top Rank didn’t have any world-rated welterweights in their stable to match him against.

So for Crawford to engage in marquee bouts against genuinely elite-level opposition, it would have cost Top Rank a lot of money (i.e. having to pay a massive Bud payday, coupled with tiny PPV buy-rates or only moderate audience viewing figures).

The crazy thing is this… none of this is new. No one can say all this hasn’t been discussed at length time-and-time again by this forum, but suddenly Crawford accuses Bob Arum of racial bias? Gimme a break!

I agree that Bud really didn’t help himself but that doesn’t change the fact that Top Rank and Bob in particular didn’t do a good job with him.

For a fighter to properly cross over as a PPV fighter it needs both the fighter and promoter to be firing.

[Enlightened-One]

I agree that Bud really didn’t help himself but that doesn’t change the fact that Top Rank and Bob in particular didn’t do a good job with him.

For a fighter to properly cross over as a PPV fighter it needs both the fighter and promoter to be firing.

Yes, I agree, but Crawford definitely knew that Top Rank didn't have any decent welterweights in their stable when he renewed his contract with them more than four years ago.

He also knew that Top Rank and the PBC rarely work with each other, unless mega-money is involved.

If Crawford really wanted to face all the best PBC fighters, he would have joined the PBC instead of Top Rank.

But instead, Crawford made his own bed, by choosing the Top Rank paycheque instead of sporting legacy.

And now Crawford is seemingly blaming other people for his own poor career choices, because now he's complaining about Top Rank's inability to orchestrate bouts against PBC fighters.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Terence Crawford accuses Bob Arum of 'bias favoring white and Latino fighters' in lawsuit against Top Rank

Welterweight champion Terence Crawford filed a lawsuit Wednesday against his former promoter Top Rank in Nevada, alleging racial bias on the part of the company's chairman, Bob Arum.

The suit alleges that the 90-year-old Arum "continues to make racist and bigoted statements and purposefully damage the reputations of Black boxers."

Crawford, who is Black, signed with Top Rank in 2011 and rose to prominence, winning titles in three weight classes on his way to worldwide recognition. He's currently ESPN's No. 1 welterweight and No. 2 pound-for-pound boxer.

The suit also claims that "Arum's sordid history with athletes of color, especially Black fighters, and his bias favoring white and Latino fighters is well-documented and known throughout the boxing world," and that "Arum makes no secret of his deep-seated bias against Black fighters."

"Bud Crawford's lawsuit against Top Rank is frivolous," Arum said in a statement later Wednesday. "His vile accusations of racism are reckless and indefensible. He knows it, and his lawyer knows it. I have spent my entire working life as a champion of Black boxers, Latino boxers, and other boxers of color. I have no doubt the Court will see Crawford's case for the malicious extortion attempt that it is."

Crawford, 34, is seeking damages to be determined at trial in excess of $5.4 million, money the fighter claims he lost due to Top Rank's failure to deliver a second fight in year two of the extension he signed in 2018, along with its inability to offer him a bout with Errol Spence Jr.

The suit claims that when Crawford signed to fight Egidijus Kavaliauskas in 2019, the agreement included a $900,000 payment if Top Rank didn't in good faith offer Crawford a bout with Spence by the end of 2020.

"It is unfortunate that Top Rank did not treat Terence properly and in fact spoke out regularly against him," Crawford's attorney, Bryan Freedman, told ESPN.

Freedman also represented Mikey Garcia in his 2014 suit against Top Rank, which led to the parties terminating his promotional agreement after Garcia was sidelined for nearly three years.

"Unlike other boxers bound to Top Rank contracts, Terence can assert his claims in court without Top Rank forcing him to sit out," Freedman said. "Make no mistake, that is a game-changer."

Crawford claims breach of contract as well as fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation. He also alleges that Arum made disparaging comments about him in an effort to harm his reputation and impact future prospects with a new promoter. The suit points to Arum's 2020 remark that he "could build a house in Beverly Hills on the money I've lost on him in the last three fights."

Crawford made $6 million for his November pay-per-view bout against Shawn Porter, the last fight of his deal with Top Rank. The Omaha, Nebraska-born fighter made $3.5 million for the Kell Brook bout, $4.8 million for his fight with Amir Khan and $4 million for the matchup with Kavaliauskas.

The suit also points to comments Arum made in 2019 regarding the difficulty in making a Crawford-Spence fight with PBC founder Al Haymon, who advises Spence: "He's gonna say, 'Spence, listen to me. Don't listen to the white guys, because if you listen to the white guys they're gonna steer you down the road. Listen to me, brother. We're part of a brotherhood. And if I tell you not to fight Crawford, I'm telling you not to fight Crawford.' That's exactly what he will say."

[Enlightened-One]

Terence Crawford is going to end up spending all the proceeds of his purse for the Porter bout paying legal fees for a lawsuit that will inevitably fail.

Instead, he should be focussed on his career, negotiating new deals with a new promoter and network.

[gregregegg]

Bob will be dead and Crawford retired before this case is finished.

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

Lol bob is to the left of castro so i find this hilarious

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

Arum made Crawford a damn millionaire mostly on his own dime and Crawford calls him racist

What a low life

[ironbeard]

Right, Arum the selfless hero.