Terence Crawford Files Lawsuit Against Top Rank, Claims Promoter’s ‘Racial Bias’ Affected His Career
Terence Crawford has filed a lawsuit against Bob Arum alleging that he hurt his career.
Crawford, the WBO welterweight champion, claims that the Top Rank promoter’s “revolting racial bias” prevented him from securing big fights and earning millions of dollars, according to court papers filed in Nevada.
Crawford claims that Arum “simply does not care about, support, or know how to promote Black fighters.” He hired attorney Bryan Freedman and is suing for almost $10 million.
The 34-year-old boxer signed with Top Rank in 2011 and extended his deal in 2018. He said the main reason for the extension was because of the partnership between Top Rank and ESPN.
He officially split with the promotion after his successful title defense against Shawn Porter in November. Crawford announced his break up during the post-fight press conference, citing that Arum couldn’t secure a fight with WBC and IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr.
Prior to the split, rumors of Crawford’s departure swirled, but Arum was confident that the boxer would stay. Arum has also previously said that Crawford is unable to draw a big pay-per-view crowd and Top Rank lost money on “every fight,” which makes it difficult to secure big fights.
Crawford is ranked as the world’s second best-active boxer by ESPN. He is undefeated in all of his 38 fights and has beaten names like Jeff Horn and Amir Khan, but Porter was the first top contender Crawford was able to face, fans argued.
And he beat Porter in great fashion.
“Because this is boxing, a sport with a checkered history, and because Arum is now dismissed as just a grumpy old white man, Arum continues to make racist and bigoted statements and purposefully damage the reputations of Black boxers without any consequences,” Crawford’s lawsuit alleges.
“It is painfully clear that Top Rank, and especially Arum, judges people based on their race. Arum’s sordid history with athletes of color, especially Black fighters, and his bias favoring white and Latino fighters is well-documented and known throughout the boxing world.”
The complaint shows example of when Arum called Floyd Mayweather Jr ‘soft” and claimed that he “shoots up cars.”
Mayweather responded in 2008 and told AllHipHop that Arum is “biased against Black fighters; he leans towards Hispanic fighters and keeps them on PPV.”
The 90-year-old promoter is also accused of badmouthing Crawford, allegedly saying, “He may be the greatest fighter in the world, but, hey, I ain’t going bankrupt promoting him,” and, “I could build a house in Beverly Hills on the money I’ve lost on him in the last three fights.”
Arum also currently co-promotes British WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. He previously promoted Muhammad Ali, Marvin Hagler and Oscar De La Hoya, to name a few.
“I haven’t seen the lawsuit yet, but it’s ridiculous,” Arum told The Post, who first reported the lawsuit.
Bob Arum statement: pic.twitter.com/YYGIpb6epU
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) January 12, 2022