De La Hoya Debates Crawford: “Fighters Should Worry About Fighting”

Oscar De La Hoya Tells Crawford Fighters Need Good Promoters

Normally, when fighters and rival factions converse on social media, the banter devolves into a raging, profanity-laced war of words. While a difference of opinion was present, this was not recently the case with undisputed welterweight champion Terence “Bud” Crawford (40-0, 31 KO’s) and Golden Boy Promotions head honcho Oscar De la Hoya.

The exchange blossomed from a tweet Bud posted in response to popular super lightweight Ryan Garcia saying the landscape of boxing could presently be reshaped into anything. Believing this to be true, Bud co-signed the outlook. He even went a bit further by essentially suggesting that boxers ban together and form a union.

Here is where De La Hoya jumped in, championing the role of promoters. He maintains that savvy, trustworthy representation will always be present and relevant. This stance did not sway Crawford to his manner of thinking.

THE LIVING PROOF

It should not be surprising to hear Crawford voice a desire to be independent of formal representation. The Nebraska native, three division champion and two-division undisputed champion had very public spats with his former promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank. After shaking loose of that contractual relationship, Bud landed the biggest prizefight of his career versus Errol Spence.

Going back to Ryan Garcia’s original point, the dynamics of how fighters carry themselves in business matters, how the consumers view the programming and how the sport is marketed is indeed undergoing radical changes. Modern pugilists the likes of one-time undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney stands as a sterling example. Haney sits at the helm of his own promotional company, Devin Haney Promotions, and has largely remained an independent fighter.

As an independent fighter, Haney has signed short-term contracts with Matchroom Boxing and Top Rank, fought on multiple broadcasting platforms and traveled to other continents to make the biggest fights possible. Throughout that process, of course Haney heard the counsel of his temporary promoters. Still, his ultimate decisions and moves were crafted by his personal thinktank.

TIME FOR ELEVATION

Providing the opportunity to allow fighters to move from fight to fight minus long-term, potentially detrimental contracts with big time promoters is precisely what Bud was talking about. And as illustrated, that essentially is Devin Haney in real-time.

It will be interesting to see how this sport and its combatants adapt to these modern times. Luckily, no matter what twists and turns await us all, 3Kings Boxing will also remain on duty to explain all the relevant, recent developments.

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