Terence Crawford just threw one of the hardest punches in his career at an opponent residing outside of the ring.
That opponent is his former promoter, Bob Arum.
In a story first reported by The New York Post, Crawford filed a blistering lawsuit in Nevada which accused Arum and his company, Top Rank, of racism and damaging his career.
The WBO champion claimed Arum’s and Top Rank’s “revolting racial bias” denied him the big fights and big paydays.
Crawford signed with Top Rank in 2011 but finally ended their relationship in November 2021 after seeing others in the division, primarily those with PBC, flourish while he languished, fighting subpar opponents on PPV bouts that were destined to flop.
Crawford claims that Arum “Simply does not care about, support, or know how to promote Black fighters,” and that he failed to build him to into a premier PPV star.
While he’s suing his former promoter for $10 million, the heaviest punches came from the blazing racial accusations leveled in the lawsuit.
His lawsuit, per the Post, states, “Crawford shines a spotlight on the systemic racism that runs through Top Rank, Top Rank’s complete inability to properly promote Black fighters, and Top Rank, Arum and [his stepson] Todd DuBoeuf’s disparate treatment of Black fighters, including Crawford.”
This might come as a shock to new-age boxing fans, but this isn’t the first time Arum has been hit with claims of racism and cultural ignorance.
Floyd Mayweather, then known as “Pretty Boy Floyd” when he fought under the Top Rank umbrella, famously fought his own battle against Bob Arum and made similar accusations. He also accused Arum of favoring Hispanic fighters over Black fighters.
“[Arum is] biased against Black fighters; he leans towards Hispanic fighters and keeps them on PPV,” said Mayweather Jr. in a 2008 interview with Allhiphop.com. “He tried to install in our minds that Blacks can’t sell PPV or sell out arenas. But that’s not true; we are known for having the best entertainers and the best athletes.”
Frustrated with his role in the Top Rank stable, Mayweather paid $750,000 to buy himself out of his contact with the promotions outfit. He then bet on himself, launched Mayweather Promotions, dominated the PPV industry and became a boxing legend.
Arum didn’t pull any punches in his retort to Crawford’s lawsuit, essentially calling it ridiculous and outrageous.
“Absurd. My whole career — I may have made mistakes — but one thing I cannot be accused of is being a racist,” said Arum to the NY Post. “I have promoted scores of top Black boxers.
“We have promoted a number of pay-per-view fights for Terence, all of which have lost money, a lot of money, then to claim we purposely and deliberately lost money because we are racist is nonsense. It is part of what is wrong with our culture.
“I am flabbergasted. If he believes I didn’t do a good job he [Crawford] can plead that [in his suit], but don’t call a man a racist when really this is because of your own failures.
“The absurdity that I would choose to lose a lot of money, close to $20M, because I was a racist makes absolutely no sense. I stand by my record.”
Arum went on to accuse Crawford of not being marketable and that he hurt his own PPV sales by not being promotable.
“[Crawford] cost me and my company because he had guarantees that were very, very, large based on his ability. But his marketability didn’t measure up to this ability and that has absolutely nothing to do with what race he is.
“A lot of it depends on the willingness of the fighter to market himself, and if you even knew about all the times we pleaded with Crawford to do this program and that media opportunity, and he refused because he was concentrating on his training, or whatever.”
Crawford’s career PPV numbers were nothing to brag about. Even his last fight against Shawn Porter did, according to Arum, a measly 135,000 buys.
But if you look at Crawford’s opponents in those fights, you’ll understand why those numbers are so low.
Would you pay to watch a true talent like Crawford face fighters such as Raymundo Beltran, Henry Lundy, Julius Indongo or Jeff Horn (who we all know did NOT beat Manny Pacquiao)?
The fact is that Top Rank couldn’t secure the big fights for Crawford, mostly because of Arum’s hatred of Al Haymon.
Haymon’s roster of welterweight fighters at PBC made Top Rank’s roster look like the amateurs. Could you imagine if Crawford had fought Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman or Shawn Porter four or five years ago? Those fights would have elevated his status exponentially.
But some of the fault lies with Crawford as he stayed with Arum and Top Rank for a decade. He could have followed in Floyd’s footsteps, bought out his contract and bounced to PBC. Instead, he stayed when all boxing fans knew he would never go anywhere with Top Rank.
Now Crawford is unleashing years of frustration with Bob Arum and Top Rank in a scathing, racially charged lawsuit.
“In truth, Top Rank, a company with zero Black executives, and only two or three Black employees, refuses to admit that it simply does not care about, support, or know how to promote Black fighters,” stated Crawford’s lawsuit.
Unless Terence Crawford finally gets the big fight with Errol Spence Jr. that everyone wants to see, this could be the biggest fight of his career.
We will continue to keep you updated as this situation develops.
