By: Sean Cross
“I’m going to give it all raw and uncut,” Terence Crawford said on an Instagram Live feed Tuesday night to explain his side of the recent negotiation drama between himself and teammate Errol Spence. According to Crawford, he reached out to Spence last May, where negotiations between himself and Spence’s adviser, Al Hymon, were successfully conducted. “Al’s a good guy, he’s a guy,” Crawford said. “Ale is a beautiful man. He is a talented person. I love talking to him, but at the same time Spence is Al’s guy and I’m not. Crawford went on to say that he and Hymen were “going back and forth on the numbers,” and then some potential investors stepped in.
“I have two companies that want to guarantee me and Spain $25 million,” Crawford said. According to Crawford, he reached out to Spence about it. After Crawford initially discussed the new development, Spence said he would have no problem calling back, so he approached Hemon himself about it. “Al told me straight up, ‘I’m not going to let anybody touch this fight,'” Crawford said, showing a slight improvement, then offering a sit-down to settle things.
I said, ‘Listen Al, since you’re his representative and I can get myself and my lawyer to fight this, why don’t you get Spence and you…’ And Al told me straight up, ‘This never happened.’ “I’ve never heard of a fighter taking zero guarantees in a fight … that’s new to me, but it’s something I’m willing to do,” Crawford replied on the live stream. In general, it was clear how Crawford saw the negotiations to fight with Spence. “I’m the only one who takes all the risks,” he said. A warrant was never sent to him, Crawford continued.
“I’ve never been bailed out, not once,” Crawford said. “That’s my confidence and belief in myself – I take it all in.” Crawford, if he was to be believed, was absolutely sure that he would beat Spence in the ring. “I took the risk,” he said. “I believe in my abilities and I believe in myself… Errol Spence, he can’t say the same.”
Crawford has indicated he is confident Haymon Spence will be good for his undisputed welterweight world championship fight. “He told me that if I didn’t take this fight he would just go and Errol Spence would do eight pictures without me,” Crawford said. “I’m not the type of person to sit on my ass, sit on anybody’s hand.”
