"It's really disappointing to hear that he would say such disrespectful comments...he's just really frustrated and it's really showing by some of these idiotic comments that he's making...these old-school tactics don't work anymore...nobody is mad at Terence Crawford, but his promoter is not going to tell Al Haymon how to run his business," stated Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe, who responded to recent comments made by fellow promoter Bob Arum regarding a future showdown between undefeated welterweight champions Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford. Check it out!
BT: I'm sure you've probably heard already, but immediately after Crawford beat Khan, Bob Arum started blaming Al Haymon for preventing a Spence vs. Crawford fight. I know you have firsthand experience when it comes to Arum and the "blame game", so I wanted to get your thoughts on some of his comments.
LE: It's really disappointing to hear that he would say such disrespectful comments. If I would have been out there all week saying, "Don't spend $70 to buy the Khan-Crawford fight because Crawford is fighting a guy that's been knocked out three different times in three different weight classes; a guy that Danny knocked out in 2012," then I would have been dead-ass wrong. You just don't do things like that. He knows better and he knows exactly what he's doing.
BT: But why is he doing that, Leonard?
LE: He's just really frustrated and it's really showing by some of these idiotic comments that he's making. It's really unfortunate. He's an excellent promoter and has been for so many years. Before, boxing was a two-man show and it was all about two guys [Bob Arum and Don King] who were controlling the sport and dictating the terms to the fighters. But there's been a changing of the guard. It's 2019 and today's fighters are equipped with all of the knowledge needed to make the right informed decisions as it relates to their own careers. Terence Crawford made his own educated decision to sign with his promotional company; that was the best decision for him and there's nothing wrong with that. Errol Spence, Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter, and Manny Pacquiao chose to sign with Al because that was best for their own careers. Each and every one of those guys are making a shitload of money and are fighting in big fights on the biggest platforms in the entire sport. That's a fact! Them guys have been making big money; all of them have been making millions of dollars. Everyone is entitled to their own choice and they made a decision to sign with someone who can help them elevate their careers and create a legacy for themselves in the ring and for their families out of it.
BT: I remember back when Amir fought Canelo, Bob referred to him as "yesterday's news" and said he wasn't a PPV draw. For the promotion of this fight, however, he totally changed his tune about Khan. Is he making these comments to manipulate the media in order to fit whatever agenda he's trying to push at the time?
LE: Listen, you can't go around trashing people simply because of the choice that they make. Not too long ago, Bob said Garcia, Porter, and Thurman were not elite fighters. He said that himself. I totally disagree with him. I think they're all great fighters. And by the way, he tried to sign each and every one of them at one point. What would be the need for him to trash these fighters now? These old-school tactics don't work anymore. Just recently, Bob was trashing Mikey Garcia, but then he said he was going to pick up the phone to try and make a Lomachenko-Garcia fight. Are you kidding me? Mikey just spent two years going through a bunch of legal battles trying to get away from him. You can't have an expectation to talk shit about somebody and then try to make a deal with them. It's like the days when he started calling Floyd a "coward" simply because Floyd made arguably the best decision that any athlete has ever made in the history of sports to put his career into his own hands by becoming his own boss instead of fighting his fighter [Antonio Margarito]. You can't run around and say things like that. That's not cool. Mikey's an intelligent person and a great fighter. He made the decision to take his career into his own hands; shit, we tried to sign Mikey Garcia too, but you don't see me trashing him because he made a decision that was best for him. I still have a tremendous amount of respect for Mikey. Trashing people the way Bob has been doing might make headlines, but it doesn't help you when it comes to making big fights. Hopefully someone that Bob respects talks to him about toning that rhetoric down because it's not a good look for the sport as a whole.
BT: Were you surprised to see Bob play the race card when he said Al would tell Errol, "Don't listen to the white guy"?
LE: It's insulting that he would insinuate and make an ignorant comment like that. Would he say that to the Latino fighters, to the Asian fighters, or to the Caucasian fighters that Al works with? It's asinine and it's not a good look. What is he thinking? I'm shocked that he would even say something like that. We all know what this whole charade is about. In my opinion, Bob has made certain commitments that he's unable to deliver on and it's really frustrating to him. As a result, these are the comments that's he's making. It's really sad and embarrassing for him and his company. Errol Spence is highly intelligent and that's a slap in the face to him. What Bob doesn't seem to understand is that when you treat people well and don't disrespect them, you build solid relationship. Errol's not working with Al because of the color of his skin. He's working with Al because they built a relationship over a period of time and he's having a wonderful career, just like all the other fighters that Al works with. Everything that Bob says falls on deaf ears to Al because he never has and never will pay attention to any of that stuff. His focus is on continuing to put his fighters in the biggest and best fights for their legacy and to make the most money.
BT: Is it even fair to say that Crawford and Spence are the best in the division right now when neither one of them have faced any of the other top guys, like Porter, Garcia, Thurman, or even Pacquiao?
LE: I'm on the record with saying that Terence Crawford is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, but I don't think he's the best welterweight. That's just my opinion. If a Spence-Crawford fight happens, I would pick Spence to definitely win. That's my opinion and I'm entitled to that, but that doesn't make me think any less of Terence Crawford as a fighter. All of these young fighters aspire to be great, but they also want to get paid. They understand that there's a lot of opportunities out there and when you make the right moves, you can have a great legacy and you can also make a lot of money to take care of your family for generations. That's a great thing. It's not about the promoters; it's about the fighters. These fighters are very, very smart. Floyd has paved the way and they believe that they have an opportunity to become big stars in the sport. They've all witnessed Floyd Mayweather put boxing on his back to become the highest earner in all of sports. Floyd changed the sport of boxing and by him doing that, it has changed the mindset of all fighters, not just in boxing, but in mixed martial arts as well. There's an established track record with PBC fighters and they are all happy. Errol Spence is well on his way to establishing himself as a pay-per-view star. He's coming off of a tremendous win on the biggest platform in boxing. He did 400,000 homes and fought in front of 47,000 people at Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Is that a bad thing?
BT: (Laughing) Nope!
LE: Okay, so like I said, he's well on his way to establishing himself as a pay-per-view star and he wants to be the king of the welterweights. And guess what! He's going to have every opportunity to prove that because he's fighting in big fights on the biggest platforms for the most money. He's on a mission to clean out the division. I respect that all day. But guess what! All of the media seems to be overlooking Keith, Shawn, Danny, and even Manny Pacquiao. I know for a fact that each and every one of the welterweights have the same goal and that's to be the undisputed welterweight champion. Errol's on a mission, but so is Keith, so is Danny, and so is Shawn. And we all know Manny Pacquiao is always looking for the biggest fights for the most money. That's why these guys are going to be fighting each other to determine who the best is. They all have one common goal and that's unification, fighting on the biggest platform for the most money. Fights with all of the elite welterweights are going to get made one after the other right away. These are exciting times in boxing as a whole. Nobody is mad at Terence Crawford, but his promoter is not going to tell Al Haymon how to run his business; just like he's not going to tell you, Ben, how to run your business. Competition is great; it's motivational. Some people are intimidated by competition. We thrive on it. It just makes you work smarter. Al has been one of the most respected and powerful businessmen in the world for well over 30 years. Does he [Arum] really think he's going to run around and disrespect the man, calling him a cancer to the sport, and then pick up the phone to make a deal with him? What is he thinking? Listen, I might not care for certain things that other promoters do, but I have healthy relationships with all the promoters out there. I can pick up the phone and call Lou [DiBella], Tom [Loeffler], Tom Brown, Richard [Schaefer], Frank [Warren], and I can even call Eddie Hearn to make a deal if I need to for a fight that makes sense for our business at that particular time. Al has done a wonderful job with putting all of his fighters on a big platform and getting them paid. He's worked very hard at building his business with positive relationships. That's my guy and he's going to be my guy till the day I die. Me, him, and Floyd have built a business relationship, we've built a wonderful friendship, and we've been very successful with all of the above on a number of fronts. Trust and believe when it's time to get the biggest fights in boxing history done, we have the track record of doing it!
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