Crawford unwilling to take pay cut, ready to sit out all year

Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images

Pandemic crisis or not, Crawford wants his full check.

Terence Crawford is in no rush to get back into the ring if it means short money for him, as he tells Brian Custer during The Last Stand Podcast. Speaking about his plans to fight again, Crawford says he’s more than willing to sit out the rest of the year if he doesn’t get paid the value he’s developed over the years, whether or not there are financial constraints due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Just don’t try and tell me I have to take a paycut because of a pandemic,” Crawford said. “I don’t feel that’s right when I’ve already went through what I had to go through coming up, now you’re telling me go back to ground one and take a paycut. I just don’t feel like I can do that.”

Crawford is currently in negotiations to have a big fight against Manny Pacquiao, with Bob Arum recently admitting that the fight would need to be staged outside of the United States in order to get the money to work for both sides — if they can even get the money to work for both sides.

The WBO welterweight titleholder is comfortable, though, saying the sky’s the limit for him, hence his willingness to not make many financial concessions. Crawford also briefly touches on a prospective showdown against Errol Spence Jr., which can be viewed in its entirety in the video above. Check it out.