Terence Crawford wants extra pay to fight without fans

It’s looking increasingly certain that when boxing makes its return, it will be behind closed doors for a while. Though several notable figures are on record saying they’ll deal with it, Terence Crawford says he’ll need some extra compensation.

“Well, I haven’t heard of that yet,” Crawford said on Chris Mannix’s Sports Illustrated podcast. “But at the same time, if it was to happen, then they have to pay me more. You know, they have to pay me more because fighters of my status and on my level, we get paid for the people that’s coming there as well. So, you know, if I can’t get paid off of people coming, then I’m gonna have to get paid up front.”

...

“You know, you’ve gotta pay me, you know, to go up there and do what I do because it ain’t free,” Crawford said. “Just like people gotta pay, you know, to do anything else in the world. You know, you gotta pay us fighters because, you know, we’re taking a big risk and health risk at the same time. You know, you can’t play boxing. You know, one false move and you can be six feet [deep].”

He also shot down the possibility of taking a pay cut to fight during these rough economic times.

“Nah, I ain’t ready to do all that,” Crawford said. “I done took less money, you know, almost my whole career, you know, just because I knew where I was trying to go and what I was trying to accomplish. So, you know, we past that part.”

Frankly, Crawford (36-0, 27 KO) may not have a choice. Unless he wants to go overseas and compete in China or somewhere like South Korea that’s already gotten large-scale testing figured out, mass gatherings of any kind are probably off the table until at least early 2021. If “Bud” wants to manage anything near his two-fights-per-year schedule, it’ll have to be be without an audience.

The WBO welterweight champion was last seen stopping Egidijus Kavaliauskas in December, extending his stoppage streak to seven. There’s been the standard chatter about him facing Errol Spence Jr. in an increasingly overdue unification match, plus a potential clash with Manny Pacquiao that Bob Arum calls “a real possibility.”