By Chris Williams: Terence Crawford went on a long rant, trying to change the narrative about why he chose not to stick it out in the negotiations to fight IBF, WBA & WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr for the undisputed championship.

Crawford claims that a hedge fund company contacted him and offered $20 million+ each for him and Spence to fight. Spence and his adviser Al Haymon weren’t interested in the deal, says Crawford.

Further, Terence says that when the negotiations for the Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) fight dragged on, he told Al that he wanted to fight this year.

So when the opportunity presented itself to fight David Avanesyan on BLK Prime PPV on December 10th, Crawford grabbed it with both hands.

Crawford says he still intends on fighting Spence next after the Avanesyan fight, provided that they both win their next fights.

Terence states that he’s aware that Spence could be fighting Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman next, and he believes the rationale for Errol going in that direction is based on money. Thurman is the biggest money fight available for Spence, aside from Crawford.

With Crawford getting eight figures to fight Avanesyan, it would look bad if Spence made less fighting someone like Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis or Vergil Ortiz Jr.

As such, Spence picked the guy that would give him the biggest payday, even though he’s on record saying that he would never fight Thurman.

“Al’s a good dude. He’s a charming guy, he’s a cool dude,” said Terence Crawford to Fighthype about Al Haymon. “I kind of like talking to him, but at the same time, Spence is Al’s guy; I’m not.

“So, of course, he’s going to do what’s best for his fighter, his guy. That’s what like any other manager/adviser would do. He will do the best for his fighter.

“So me and Al talk on the phone. I get advice from other guys in PBC. They tell me, ‘Be careful; make sure the deal is right.’ They tell me, ‘Make sure you don’t get f***ed.’ Just normal things from guys in they stable that I’m friends with.

“Of course, me and Al are going back and forth about the numbers. We’re not going back and forth about anything else. I have two companies that reached out to me that wanted to give me and Spence 25 million dollars guaranteed up front.

“So a real guy like myself, I called Spence. ‘Hey, bro, look, listen, I got this company that is willing to give us 25 million a piece guaranteed. What’s up? What are you going to do?’ He’s like, ’25 million? What about the back end?’

“I’m like, ‘Listen, if they make they money back, then we get 80-20. It’s simple math.’  I said, ‘We got people stealing the fight. They got the fire sticks.’ He laughs, ‘I got a firestick too.’ I’m like, ‘See. Ain’t nobody buying pay-per-views no more.’

“I said, ‘We get this up front money and we’re good. It’s a no-brainer.’ I would say the difference between me and the difference between Spence is I’m really my own boss now, and he’s not.

“He’s got to go through Al. He’s got to go through his teams to ask if he can do certain things that I don’t have to no more. Now that I’m a free agent and free to do whatever I want, I’m the one sitting at the table.

“I’m the one talking directly to these high individuals. Errol Spence is not talking to Terence Crawford about the fight. Errol Spence wasn’t at the table. Errol Spence can’t tell you are show you a contract that says ‘Terence Crawford, Errol Spence’ that he was there in negotiations with us.

“He can’t do it. He had to go back and ask Al [Haymon] for permission if he can take this big chunk of lump sum of money to fight Terence Crawford, which he didn’t call me back soon, so I proposed it to Al.

“I hit up Al. I said, ‘Al, listen. I got this big hedge fund company out here. They claim they know you. Not one, but two. Two companies are willing to put 20+ million in both of our pockets, guaranteed.

“Al told me straight up, ‘I’m not letting nobody touch this fight.’ I’m like, ‘Alright, cool, but why?’ He’s like, ‘Why would you want to put a ceiling on yourself? Why would you want to put a cap on yourself?’

“I’m like, ‘I’m not putting a cap on myself if this company is taking the risk. High risk, high reward if that’s the case. I can’t see a fight that’s been doing millions since Floyd and them.’

“So that was an altercation. I asked Al, ‘Since this fight is dragging on with me and Spence, and we can’t get things together, Why don’t I come out and meet you with my lawyer, and we just wrap it up? Just me and you and my lawyer.’

“Al said his mother wasn’t doing too well, and I honored that, and I respect that. As the negotiations dragged on and I stated that I wanted to fight this year, I asked Al again because we seemed like we weren’t getting nowhere.

“I asked Al and said, ‘Listen, why don’t you get Spence and you, since you’re his representative, and I’ll get myself and my lawyer, and we’ll just make this fight. Anything we got to do, we can do it right there, signed, sealed, and delivered.’

“Al told me straight up, ‘That ain’t ever happened in the history ever where two fighters sit down at a table, and they come to an agreement, and they get a fight made like that. Not even Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.’

“It’s a first time for anything. I never heard of a fighter taking zero guaranteed in a fight. I never heard of a fighter of a four-rounder taking zero percent of a guarantee. That’s something that is new to me, but that was something I was willing to do to make this fight happen.

“A lot of people say, ‘Terence, you ducked. You didn’t want to fight Spence.’  I’m the only one that was taking all the risks. I told him, ‘Alright, cool. I’ll take no guarantee. I’ll take the less end of the money.

“‘Whatever is that you want, I’ll take it because that’s how much confidence I’ve got that I beat that man.’ So even though I know I was getting f***ed in the long run, I just wanted a little bit of transparency.

“I said, ‘Okay, if I’m going to bet on myself and go against all the odds, then I want a little bit of transparency.’ Of course, I want to be able to write off on things that are going to affect my check.

“Of course, I want to see if the numbers add up to what they’re telling me. It’s simple to me to think that a person will go into business with a person 50-50 and this person would tell them, ‘Well, you got to give me 50 down and I give you 50%.

“Then you say, ‘Oh well, I’m not going to tell you how much we really made, but I’m just going to give you this and you’ve ot to trust me.’ Come on, now. It don’t make no sense.

“I was never got offered a guarantee, not once. I was never given anything, but, ‘Here, you want this fight? We going to f**k you, and you got what you want.’

“That’s how much confidence and faith I have in myself. I took it all. I took the risk. Big risk with big reward, that’s how I look at it, and I believe in my abilities and I believe in myself.

“So I’m like, ‘It’s whatever.’ Errol Spence, he can’t say the same. He’s on audio, saying Al Haymon going to make sure he’s good. He’s in the best position to win this fight.

“Of course, he is, he’s supposed to. You’ve got everything surrounding you to help you. So people mad at me because Al told me that if I don’t take this fight that Errol Spence is going to go and make eight figures without me.

“So basically, he’s telling me, ‘You take this fight or leave it or you got nothing’ basically because we’ve been dragging, dragging and dragging.

“So, I don’t know the caliber of people that he’s been dealing with or they’ve been dealing with, but I’m not the type of guy that sits on my a** or sits on my hands for no man to feed my family.

“So, he’s mad at me for taking a fight with a tough opponent [David Avanesyan]. You might not know him but he’s a tough opponent for a bigger purse, a guaranteed that I wasn’t even going to get. You crazy in the head.

“So now here we go back to square one. What do you expect? You expect me to be disrespected, ran over, stepped on and just sit there and just take it? That’s crazy. That ain’t my style.

“Me personally, I wasn’t even going to say nothing because I’m not the talkative type and y’all pretty much know that, but sometimes you got to say what’s real, say what’s on your mind. You got to stop these people from doing what they want with you.

“A lot of people say, ‘Did he ask to see Bob Arum’s books. Did he ask for transparency with Bob Arum?’ No, I didn’t. Do you know why? A lot of people don’t even know why, but I was signed with Bob Arum and I wasn’t my own boss.

“I was given a guarantee for every single fight that I fought for Bob Arum and Top Rank. That’s the difference, you guys. Si if you guys don’t understand that, I don’t know what to tell you.

“So, I stated that I want a fight this year, and that was my thing. So we go back and forth, numbers, numbers. So the transparency part, that was the drag. Where was Errol Spence at? I didn’t hear Errol Spence.

“Where was the Tweets? I didn’t hear the Tweets. Where was the guy at? He was under a rock. If you’re real like you say you’re the truth, then you’ll come out and say they truth.

“Tell the truth, buddy. Come on, man. I called you and told you, ‘Listen, I got this bread on the table. What is you doing?’ You not your own boss, so stop saying that you you’re own boss, and that you the truth and you this and you that. But you’ve got to answer to a lot of people, my dude.

“I’m not knocking that. They got you to where you is now. A lot of people say, ‘Why you didn’t fight Boots? Why you didn’t fight Ortiz? Them names never came up. I would have fought them names in a heartbeat. Come on, man. I’m the best fighter in the world.

“Who do you think I am? I always fought my mandatorys. I ain’t ever ducked my mandatorys, but still, I hear through the grapevine that Spence is about to fight a guy that he promised, and he swore that he was never going to fight, which is Keith Thurman.

“I don’t know how true that is, but that’s what’s floating around. What’s up with the trueness of that? You swear up and down that you’re not going to fight this guy. You don’t care what nobody says. Now you about to fight him.

“That means you were lying, buddy. But do you know why you’ve got to fight Thurman? Do you want to know why, fans? Because of the money. It’s all about the money.

“Come on, now. He’s not going to make that much money fighting Ortiz or Boots. Come on, man, it’s obvious. Who is Spence going to fight beside me, where Spence is going to make 20 million dollars? Nobody.

“But I’m going to tell you all this. I don’t know how truthful it is, but Floyd says he is the spokesman of PBC, and he’s Al’s, right-hand man. We heard on numerous occasions where Floyd came out and said the fight isn’t happening in this year.

“So, y’all mad at me for going to get a bag? When did that ever happen? Y’all mad at me for going to get a bag? Come on, man. We’re going to turn up with BLK Prime and do our thing. We stepping up to the plate.

“They turning boxing around, man. All the biggest fights going through them. They the new wave? Giving these fighters they just do. You want to fight this guy? You want to fight this guy? They going to make it happen. It’s simple, but intentions are still the same.

“After this fight, Spence is successful; I’m successful; he says he’s going to spin the block. Let him spin the block so I can drop him off where he’s staying, and that is just how I’m going to keep it. It’s just that simple.

“He spin the block, and we’re going to be ready for whatever. Y’all fans, you can chop it up and edit it and put it however you want and try and change the narrative and my words.

“On December 10th, tune in to BLK Prime. BLK Prime, baby. We’re in the building. Tune in, y’all. If you don’t, y’all some haters. If y’all do, it is what it is, man,” said Crawford.