Floyd Mayweather Jr. has always prided himself on recognizing tremendous financial opportunities.
Now that Errol Spence has cleared the path for welterweight supremacy, Mayweather is floating the strategy of Crawford pairing with him to make the first-ever welterweight undisputed champion in the four-belt era a reality.
For Mayweather, it’s rooted in supporting his own.
The Money Team
“It’s no different from Chinese supporting the Chinese, Dominicans support Dominicans, Puerto Ricans support Puerto Ricans, Mexicans support Mexicans,” Mayweather said recently to FightHype. “I’m a Black American. I’m going to support a Black American first.
“I’ve always wanted the best for Terence Crawford, always. We spoke on numerous occasions. We have each other’s phone numbers. Hopefully, everything plays out like it should, and of course, I would love to sign Terence Crawford. I talked about getting Terence Crawford the fights that he wants.”
Crawford is the former undisputed light-welterweight champion. He came up under Top Rank just like Mayweather and left Top Rank as “Money” did.
Similar Paths
Frustrations with the way Top Rank promoted him and failed attempts at making the Spence fight were why Crawford left after his last fight on his promotional agreement with the company.
As a free agent, Spence declaring that he will be feverishly negotiating to get Crawford’s WBO welterweight title, Mayweather wants to step in and help guide the young star’s newfound independence.
However, he acknowledges that it takes more than many fighters are willing to give.
Floyd Mayweather: "I would love to sign Terence Crawford, I would love to sign Terence Crawford. I've talked about getting Terence Crawford the fight that he wants [vs Errol Spence]." [@FightHype]
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) April 17, 2022
Mayweather’s Lamentations
“A lot of times you see so many young fighters now starting their own promotion company,” Mayweather continued. “You have to be able to give, advance fighters a million dollars and two, three million dollars before you can get a promotional company. It’s OK to get a logo, and I’m not talking about Terence Crawford, but fighters in general.
“If you’re not able to do that, and be a major promoter right now, then we should wait on that. That’s what I think. Everything has a time and a place. But I think every fighter should have a dream of being a promoter, but promoting is a rough job.”
Mayweather is promoting an intra-Mayweather Promotions fight between his star pupil, Gervonta “Tank” Davis, and his newest heel, Rolando “Rolly” Romero. The July fight is Davis’ last on his promotional contract with Mayweather.
Floyd Mayweather wants to sign WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford pic.twitter.com/wzMOvpJHK7
— Sportscliffs (@sportscliffs) April 18, 2022
The Lion’s Share
Davis has already called out the selection of Romero for his last fight as a ploy to elevate Romero’s name before he departs from the organization. However, for Mayweather it is yet another failed effort to show solidarity with athletes that have gone wrong as their business went through the branding and marketing wash.
“You can look at me, for instance,” Mayweather said. “I wanted to be a promoter to help fighters, and the more I help them, the more they hate me. That comes with the territory. That comes with the sport, so it is what it is.
“I want to put fighters in a position to get the lion’s share. Before Floyd Mayweather got involved in the sport of boxing or before he became a promoter in the sport, the promoters were getting the lion’s share and getting more money than the fighters. I changed fighters getting crazy money.”
How the Spence versus Crawford fight will be put together is a matter of boxing politics and timing. Now Mayweather reveals how he is vying to be a part of that history.
