Terence Crawford reiterated that he won’t take a pay cut as result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Terence Crawford won’t fight if he has to take a pay cut.
Bob Arum, who promotes Crawford, said he wants to get Crawford back into the ring this fall and reeled off a list of potential opponents, led by Manny Pacquiao but also including Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, Yordenis Ugas and Kell Brook.
Here’s the problem: If Crawford has to fight behind closed doors because of the coronavirus threat – without a live gate – he might not get paid as much as he believes he’s worth.
“Just don’t try and tell me I have to take a pay cut because of a pandemic,” Crawford said during a recent appearance on “The Last Stand Podcast.” “I don’t feel that’s right when I’ve already went through what I had to go through coming up.
“Now you’re telling me go back to Ground 1 and take a pay cut. I just don’t feel like I can do that.”
As a result, we might not see Crawford fight until the pandemic eases to a point where fans will be allowed into arenas.
“We’re hamstrung because none of these [venues] want to commit to a fight this year because of the coronavirus,” Arum said. “And Kell Brook, if we made [that fight], we couldn’t get him (into the United States).”
Top Rank, Arum’s company, has been staging cards without spectators in a tightly controlled ball room at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Promoter Bob Arum listed a number of potential opponents he’s targeting for Terence Crawford.
Terence Crawford’s immediate future seems to be as uncertain as ever, although new potential opponents are emerging.
Bob Arum, his promoter, mentioned a number names in an interview with the U.K.’s talkSPORT. On top of the list? Fellow welterweight titleholder Manny Pacquiao, although that will have to wait until fans are allowed into arenas and stadiums. Among others: Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, Yordenis Ugas and Kell Brook.
Another potential matchup that will have to wait: Crawford vs. Errol Spence Jr., who is expected to fight Danny Garcia in his next fight.
And the fact that all the fighters mentioned above – except Brook – are aligned with rival Premier Boxing Champions doesn’t seem to be an obstacle in this case. At least that’s how Arum, of Top Rank, portrays it.
“That’s the opponent that I would most like Terence to fight, and I think he would,” Arum said of Pacquiao, who would make for the biggest fight. “Now, that requires a lot of money, and we’ve had proposals from the Mid[dle] East. I don’t know if those proposals will be available for this year. That is the problem.
“I don’t know whether the Mid-East venues will allow spectators this year. They may not allow it until there’s a vaccine. Otherwise, we have to look for Terence Crawford to fight a major welterweight.
“There are a number that are possibilities. Thurman, Porter or this kid Ugas, the Cuban who’s a good, good welterweight. They’re with Al [Haymon’s] company PBC, but we’re working well together with that company, so I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”
“And then finally there’s Kell Brook, whose management contacts me on almost a weekly basis. So the first possibility is Pacquiao, if that’s possible. Second possibility is a fight against one of Al’s guys. And the third possibility is Kell Brook if we can get him in the United States.”
Crawford, a former lightweight and junior welterweight titleholder, is generally considered one of the best fighters in the world but has been unable to lure a top welterweight into the ring.
He’s trying to be patient.
“I was a little disappointed, but at the same time it’s a process,” he told talkSPORT. “Everything will happen in good time. I believe that all those fights that I want and the fans want, we’ll get to see. That’s what I’m in the sport of boxing for, to take on the biggest and baddest challenges.
“I wanna fight all the big names at the end of the day, and that’s what I’ve been calling for since I came into the welterweight division. They can’t avoid me forever. But at the same time it’s a business, they wanna keep everything in house and they have the right to do so.
“But at the end of the day, they’re gonna have to see Terence Crawford.”
Terence Crawford heads one man’s Top 10 pound-for-pound list of American boxers.
The United States, the third most populous country with roughly 330 million people, produces more elite boxers than any other nation.
I recently set out to put together my list of the 10 best among them and quickly realized that it was no easy task, as I found that one could make a reasonable case for more than 20 fighters who were either born in the U.S. or spent most of their lives here.
Ultimately, I whittled my list down to 10. Here it is.
No. 1 Terence Crawford
Record: 36-0 (27 KOs) Titles: Lightweight, junior welterweight, welterweight Key victories: Yuriorkis Gamboa, Ray Beltran, Thomas Dulorme, Hank Lundy, Viktor Postol, John Molina Jr., Julius Indongo, Jeff Horn, Jose Benavidez, Amir Khan, Egidijus Kavaliauskas Background: Crawford doesn’t have the best resume among elite fighters – he still needs defining victories – but we see what we see, a consistently dominating fighter with a complete skill set and the flair of a star.
No.2Errol Spence Jr.
Record: 26-0 (21 KOs) Titles: Welterweight Key victories: Kell Brook, Lamont Peterson, Mikey Garcia, Shawn Porter Background: Spence is building a strong resume, particularly with the victories over Garcia and Porter. He has all the tools, although he’s not quite as dynamic as Crawford. I’m assuming he’s 100 percent after his car accident in October.
Mikey Garcia (right) defeated Jessie Vargas by a unanimous decision in February. Amanda Westcott / DAZN
No3.Mikey Garcia Record: 40-1 (30 KOs) Titles: Featherweight, junior lightweight, lightweight, junior welterweight Key victories: Orlando Salido, Juan Manuel Lopez, Roman Martinez, Dejan Zlaticanin, Sergey Lipinets, Robert Easter, Jessie Vargas Background: Don’t let the Spence setback cloud your judgment of Garcia. He took a big swing and missed but he has otherwise been a dominating fighter over four divisions, with a special skill set and plenty of punching power.
No. 4.Leo Santa Cruz Record: 37-1-1 (19 KOs) Titles: Bantamweight, junior featherweight, featherweight, junior lightweight Key victories: Eric Morel, Cristian Mijares, Abner Mares (twice), Kiko Martinez, Carl Frampton, Miguel Flores Background: Santa Cruz is the ultimate blue-collar boxer. The Mexican-American isn’t particularly quick or flashy but he’ll out-train you, outwork you and almost always beat you. He avenged his only defeat when he outpointed Frampton.
No. 5Shawn Porter
Record: 30-3-1 (17 KOs) Titles: Welterweight Key victories: Paulie Malignaggi, Adrien Broner, Andre Berto, Danny Garcia, Yordenis Ugas Background: Porter is only 6-3 in his last night fights but could be 9-0, as all three of his losses — to Kell Brook, Keith Thurman and Errol Spence Jr. – could’ve gone his way. He is a quick, athletic, swarming nightmare for any foe. Ask Spence.
No. 6Gary Russell Jr.
Record: 30-1 (18 KOs) Titles: Featherweight Key victories: Jhonny Gonzalez, Oscar Escandon, Joseph Diaz Jr., Kiko Martinez, Tugstsot Nyambayar. Background: Russell isn’t active enough and he still lacks a truly defining victory but the man with the blurry-quick hands and polished skills has dominated those in front of him. A big victory or two could lift him higher here.
Jermall Charlo needs a big middleweight fight to rebuild his momentum. Stephanie Trapp / Showtime
No. 7Jermall Charlo
Record: 30-0 (22 KOs) Titles: Junior middleweight, middleweight Key victories: Cornelius Bundrage, Austin Trout, Julian Williams, Hugo Centeno Jr., Matvey Korobov Background: Charlo is in need of a big middleweight fight (Canelo Alvarez?) to rebuild lost momentum but he has all the tools. He’s skillful, powerful, tough, fun to watch, all the ingredients that comprise a star.
No. 8Jermell Charlo
Record: 33-1 (17 KOs) Titles: Junior middleweight Key victories: Gabriel Rosado, Vanes Martirosyan, Erickson Lubin, Austin Trout, Tony Harrison Background: Some have questioned his skill set because he was losing to John Jackson before stopping him and lost a decision to Harrison but recent results – wins over Lubin, Trout and Harrison (by KO) in the rematch — speak loudly. Charlo is locked in.
No. 9Teofimo Lopez
Record: 15-0 (12 KOs) Titles: Lightweight Key victories: Diego Magdaleno, Masayoshi Nakatani, Richard Commey Background: Lopez already has a big victory at 22 – over Commey to win his title – but his inclusion here is based mostly on what I see, a gifted boxer who can also remove your head from your body. He’ll skyrocket if he beats Vasiliy Lomachenko.
No. 10Jose Ramirez
Record: 25-0 (17 KOs) Titles: Lightweight Key victories: Amir Imam, Antonio Orozco, Jose Zepeda, Maurice Hooker Background: Ramirez is still building his resume but the victories listed above – which came in succession – give you a good idea of what he’s capable of. The former Olympian is skillful and ferocious, which doesn’t bode well for future foes.
Danny Garcia doesn’t want to hear anything about car accidents or old age if he fights and beats Errol Spence or Manny Pacquiao.
Danny Garcia doesn’t want to hear excuses.
If he fights and beats Errol Spence Jr. next, he doesn’t want Spence or anyone else to say Spence wasn’t at full strength following his car accident in October. If Garcia fights Manny Pacquiao, he doesn’t want to hear how old Pacquiao is.
If Garcia wins, he wants full credit.
“if you ain’t 100 percent, don’t get in the ring,” Garcia said on The Ak & Barak Show. “If you ain’t ready, don’t get in the ring. You know? That’s just that simple. You know, I know they say Manny’s older now, but he’s coming off a big win. So, if he’s old, don’t get in the ring. If Spence ain’t better, don’t get in the ring cuz I don’t wanna hear no excuses. I never made no excuses.”
Garcia is expected to fight Spence, although no formal announcement has been made. The Philadelphian was set to face Spence on pay-per-view in January but the matchup was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
He’s also thought to be in contention to face the 41-year-old Pacquiao, who is coming off a split decision victory over Keith Thurman in July.
Garcia (36-2, 21 KOs) likes his chances against the unbeaten Spence (26-0, 21 KO), especially after watching Spence’s victories over Mikey Garcia (UD) and Shawn Porter (SD) last year.
“You know, I seen things in the Mikey Garcia fight, even though he won that fight,” Danny Garcia said. “You know, he won by a big score, but I saw things in that fight that, you know, I’m bigger than Mikey, I’m stronger than Mikey and Mikey did some good things in that fight. He just was beat by the bigger, better man. You know what I mean?
“And then the [Shawn] Porter fight, you know, I saw he was getting hit a lot. You know, when I fought Porter, it wasn’t even a hard fight to me like that. You know what I mean? It was just he just threw more and that’s why he won, basically.
“But I seen him get hit a lot in that fight and I seen a lot of mistakes, where I feel like, you know, I could take this guy. I’m 100 percent confident I could take him.”
Errol Spence Jr. will defend his welterweight title this fall against former two-division beltholder Danny Garcia, The Athletic reported.
Well, Errol Spence Jr. isn’t taking a tune-up fight following his horrific car accident this past October.
Spence will defend his welterweight title this fall against former two-division beltholder Danny Garcia, the fighter he was expected to face in January, according to The Athletic. The original date became moot after the single-car crash in Dallas.
The fight this fall would be televised on Fox Pay-Per-View. No specific date or site was mentioned.
Spence (26-0, 21 KOs) has said he’s fully recovered and back in training, which is miraculous given the severity of the crash. The only thing he hasn’t been able to do is spar as a result of losing teeth in the accident.
Spence is coming off a sensational split-decision victory over Shawn Porter in September.
“I have no restrictions in my training except sparring,” Spence said on the “All The Smoke” podcast, which is available on Showtime Sports’ YouTube channel. “I can’t spar yet because I got my teeth knocked out. And they put two posts in my mouth, well, three posts in my mouth. And I’m waiting on them to heal.
“And once they heal, then I’ll get my permanent teeth. And then I’ll be able to spar.”
He added: “In all actuality, this pandemic has really been helping me out a lot, yeah, basically [with] recovery and just taking my time to get back. But I’m already back. I’m 100 percent. I went to a facility in Cleveland, where they checked me out, checked my brain, gave me MRIs and things like that, and everything went well.
“So everything’s been going good. I think I’m 100 percent healthy and in shape.”
Spence obviously has respect for Garcia, who has held titles at both junior welterweight and welterweight.
“Danny Garcia, he’s a very tough fighter,” he said on the Premier Boxing Champions Instagram account. “He’s a guy that’s accomplished a lot in the sport of boxing. And that’s a fight that really makes sense … it’s a fight that can definitely happen next.”
Garcia (36-2, 21 KOs) hasn’t held a title since he lost his 147-pound belt to Keith Thurman by a split decision in March 2017. He then lost a close decision to Shawn Porter for a vacant title in September 2018. The 32-year-old Philadelphian has since beaten Adrian Granados and Ivan Redkach.
Garcia likes his chances against Spence.
“I feel it’s a great style for me,” Garcia said on The PBC Podcast. “Porter hit him a lot. I’ve seen things in the Mikey Garcia fight that I could definitely take advantage of and defeat him.”
Danny Garcia said on Instagram Live that he expects to fight either Manny Pacquiao or Errol Spence Jr. in the fall.
Danny Garcia is planning to go big when he returns to the ring.
The former two-division titleholder said on Instagram Live that he expects to fight in the fall. He added that his two potential opponents are among the biggest names in the sport: Manny Pacquiao and Errol Spence Jr.
“I’m coming back, baby. September. Back in the ring, September,” Garcia said. “I’m fighting in the fall, we don’t know [who] yet, either Pac Man or Spence, that’s where it’s at.”
Garcia (36-2, 21 KOs) has defeated Adrian Granados and Ivan Redkach since he lost a close, but unanimous decision against Shawn Porter in September 2018.
The Philadelphian hasn’t held a title since he lost his welterweight belt to Keith Thurman by a split decision in March 2017.
Pacquiao rejuvenated his career last year by outpointing Adrien Broner and then Thurman to win a 147-pound belt. Still, at 41 and being a small welterweight, he would be perceived as an easier mark than Spence for Garcia.
Of course, that’s assuming Spence is fully recovered from his car accident this past October. Spence, coming off a decision over Porter, is a big, strong, prime 147-pounder.
The welterweight titleholder has impressive victories over Mikey Garcia and Shawn Porter but has faced no one remotely like Mayweather, who is considered the best boxer of his generation.
Spence would have a natural size advantage if he and Mayweather would’ve fought at 147 pounds. And he probably has more punching power pound-for-pound.
However, Mayweather undoubtedly would be seen to have a superior skill set.
In this episode of Jabs with Mannix and Mora, DAZN commentators Chris Mannix and Sergio Mora discuss Spence’s comment and how they believe a Spence-Mayweather fight would’ve played out.
Showtime has announced its May lineup of replays, beginning with two Errol Spence Jr. fights this Friday.
More Showtime Boxing Classics are on the way.
Showtime has announced its May lineup of replays, beginning with two Errol Spence Jr. fights this Friday. Other featured fighters include Keith Thurman, Floyd Mayweather, Joe Calzaghe and Leo Santa Cruz.
All shows are on Fridays and begin at 10 p.m. ET / PT.
Here is the schedule:
May 1 – Spence vs. Kell Brook, Spence vs. Lamont Peterson
May 8 – Keith Thurman vs. Shawn Porter, Thurman vs. Danny Garcia.
May 15 – Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana I, Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor
May 22 – Ricky Hatton vs. Kostya Tszyu, Joe Calzaghe vs. Jeff Lacy
May 29 – Leo Santa Cruz vs. Carl Frampton II, Santa Cruz vs. Abner Mares II.
Shawn Porter believes Terence Crawford would beat Errol Spence Jr. because he has “more in his arsenal.”
Shawn Porter has as good an idea as anyone how a fight between Errol Spence Jr. and Terrence Crawford would go.
Porter fought Spence in September, losing a split decision to his Premier Boxing Champions stablemate. And he is a friend of Crawford, who fights for rival Top Rank. Plus, as a PBC on Fox analyst, it’s his job part time to discuss such things.
So who does he believe would win? Crawford.
“I’ve got Crawford,” Porter said during a PBC Facebook Live session. “I think Crawford’s the better boxer. I think Crawford’s got more in his arsenal. Of course, it’s a biased opinion as well, because I am friends with Crawford. But even taking that out of the equation, I just think that Crawford can do a lot.
“I think he’s a problem for anyone out there, fighting him, getting in the ring with him. But, you know, talking about the fight with Errol Spence and Terence Crawford, I think Terence Crawford wins that fight.”
A fan during the session reacted to Porter’s comment by calling him a hater. He dismissed that notion.
“Got no reason to hate,” Porter said. “I’m on here, just doing me. I answered the question. The question is who wins, Terence Crawford or Errol Spence? I said who I thought would win the fight, and then I supported my answer. That’s not being a hater. That’s giving my opinion.”
Porter gave Spence hell in their fight, which took place in Los Angeles. Spence, who put Porter down in Round 11, won 116-111, 116-111 and 112-115.
Porter also wants to fight Crawford but his friend doesn’t seem to be interested in the matchup.
Fox Sports and Premier Boxing Champions put together a video featuring their biggest personalities to thank the coronavirus warriors.
Our health care workers and first responders have emerged as heroes in the ongoing fight against the coronavirus.
And that fact isn’t lost on those in the boxing world.
Fox Sports and Premier Boxing Champions took the time to put together a video (see below) featuring many of their biggest stars and personalities to thank those risking their lives.
Here are those who took part:
PBC Fighters
Manny Pacquiao, Errol Spence, Deontay Wilder, Leo Santa Cruz, Andy Ruiz Jr, Shawn Porter, Mikey Garcia, Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, David Benavidez, Caleb Plant, Abner Mares, Erislandy Lara, Julian Williams, Tony Harrison, Anthony Dirrell, Andre Dirrell, Chris Eubank Jr, Andre Berto and Adam Kownacki.
PBC on FOX Personalities
Brian Kenny, Chris Myers, Joe Goossen, Kate Abdo, Jimmy Lennon Jr, Marcos Villegas, Heidi Androl, Jordan Plant, Steve Cunningham and Ray Flores.
Many of the boxers and personalities of @PBConFOX have a message for the doctors, nurses, health officials and others battling to keep us safe. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/xIDYps1gTH
