Bob Arum Open to Re-signing Terence Crawford: ‘There Is No Animosity There’

Terence Crawford is taking turns picking and choosing the fights he pleases as a promotional free agent.

After an acrimonious split from longtime promoter Top Rank following his 2021 stoppage win against Shawn Porter, Crawford has worked with BLK Prime (for his knockout victory against David Avanesyan) and PBC (for his career-defining stoppage win against Errol Spence Jr.).

And on Aug. 3, Crawford will begin his quest for a title in a fourth weight class against WBA junior middleweight titleholder Israel Madrimov while headlining a Matchroom Boxing bill funded by Saudi Arabian power broker Turki Alalshikh.

Top Rank boss Bob Arum is open to mending fences with Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) to re-establish a working relationship.

“I never take anything personally. It’s a business,” Arum told BoxingScene. “If we had the right fighter at the right money, and it satisfied Crawford, would we do a Crawford fight? Of course we would. There is no animosity there. In that case, things were said that shouldn’t have been said on both parts. Terence is a great fighter. If we had something that was appealing to him, I believe he would come back to do a fight with us, and we would certainly do a fight with him.”

In a recent interview with ESPN, Crawford emphasized he was pleased to be appreciated by Alalshikh, who is working behind the scenes also trying to arrange a fight between Crawford and Canelo Alvarez.

“There’s a lot of respect that comes with Turki and myself,” said Crawford. “He’s seen the road that I had to take to get to where I am now. And he just wanted to display respect for the sport of boxing, and not just somebody that’s coming to hold these type of fighters down and not let the world see him. It’s an honor that he chose me. He could have chosen anybody else. So I’m definitely grateful.”

Arum and Crawford feuded frequently in the later stages of their union. 

Arum, a 92-year-old Hall of Fame promoter, said Crawford wasn’t a pay-per-view draw and that Top Rank lost money on Crawford fights, even once quipping that he could build houses in Beverly Hills with the money he had lost on Crawford. 

Crawford wound up suing Top Rank for breach of contract and claimed racial bias in January 2022.

Top Rank’s roster at 154 pounds – presumably the division Crawford wants to compete in for now – is slim. But if Crawford wanted to bounce back and forth between weight classes, Top Rank could present him with a fight against unified middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly.

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.