Terence Crawford is one of the best boxers in the world currently. With a 41-0 record, he has inserted himself in the list of all-time greats and might possibly have a record-breaking fight against Canelo Alvarez in September. However, according to his ex-promoter, Top Rank head honcho Bob Arum, a few years ago, things were not so bright.

In 2021, Arum sat down with talkSPORT, revealing that his promotional company had incurred a loss on every Terence Crawford fight. He further added that the Omaha native is not as big of a draw as he thinks he is. ‘Bud’ parted ways with Top Rank in 2021. However, it looks like he was still holding a grudge against Arum’s statement and decided to set the record straight.

Terence Crawford’s cheeky reply

Bud took to his ‘X’ and reposted ‘Matt, Brunch Boxing’ post, where the latter tried to bust some myths in the boxing world. One of them was the narrative around Crawford and how is not a draw. The prominent boxing page referred to Arum’s statement and how the media jumped on the statement without any fact-checking. He wrote, “Bob Arum claimed that he lost money on Terence Crawford fights. The media narrative became that Bud didn’t sell.”

However, the prominent boxing page claimed that Arum couldn’t lose money on Crawford’s fight as ESPN had a specific budget. He added, “Firstly, ESPN gave Top Rank a budget. You ain’t losing s**t.” At the time, Top Rank was still in partnership with ESPN and the broadcaster would have mitigated any loss.

The boxing page then brought out the numbers Crawford’s fights did on ESPN, while claiming that Arum was only able to crack the ESPN deal because of those fights. “Secondly, Bud consistently did over 1 million viewers on ESPN+ and 2 on ESPN. HE GOT Bob THE ESPN DEAL!”

Terence Crawford cheekily quoted the post with the caption, “😉😉😉,” almost saying that he does not need to prove anything else. The numbers were enough to satisfy his $18 million pay demand.

Bob Arum’s $18 million loss

During his conversation with talkSPORT, Arum had claimed that Crawford likes to be paid like the best boxers in the world which he is. However, his PPV numbers were not enough to justify the demands. During his contractual fights under Top Rank, according to ESPN, Terence Crawford earned $6 million against Shawn Porter,  $3.5 million for the Kell Brook bout, $4.8 million against Amir Khan, and $4 million against Egidijus Kavaliauskas, earning him a payout of $18.3 million total.

Arum then controversially remarked that he would rather “build a house in Beverly Hills on the money I’ve lost on him in the last three fights,” citing his losses. However, in hindsight, things might look a bit different.

While the Top Rank honcho repeatedly claimed that the deal with Terence Crawford was disastrous, the company extended the latter’s contract in 2018, which makes no sense if Arum was incurring such losses. Furthermore, there is no doubt that Bud was selling out all the arenas and even the streaming for those fights touched moderately good numbers.

After the Top Rank deal expired, the Omaha native signed a deal with BLK Prime for his fight against David Avanesyan. It was termed as a new chapter in Bud’s life and career. However, that partnership lasted only for one fight as Crawford has not signed an exclusive promotional contract with anyone since then. He has been operating as a free agent and, given his popularity, this might be the right decision.

Right now, he is in talks with His Excellency Turki Alalshikh and might be closing on a 9 figure payday for a fight against Canelo. In hindsight, getting out of that Top Rank deal has worked wonders for the Omaha native.

Do you think Terence Crawford made the right decision to operate as a free agent? Let us know your thoughts down below.