UFC President Dana White had a few words for Top Rank’s CEO and legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum.
Apparently, White didn’t like the comments Bob Arum made about the WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford who defended his title this last weekend.
“Bud” TKO’d Kell Brook in the 4th round, proving once again he’s one of the very best boxers in the world right now. Unfortunately for Crawford, he’s still not getting the recognition he deserves because he’s not fighting the top names of the division – Manny Pacquiao or Eroll Spence Jr.
After the win against Brook, Arum said that Crawford needs to properly market himself in order to participate in big-time fights.
“He’s got to promote as Teofimo Lopez does. He’s got to promote like Shakur Stevenson does. Like Mayweather did. Like Pacquiao did. If he doesn’t, then who the f— needs him? He may be the greatest fighter in the world, but, hey, I ain’t going bankrupt promoting him,” Arum told Lance Pugmire of The Athletic.
“The question is, ‘Do we want to keep him?’ I could build a house in Beverly Hills on the money I’ve lost on him in the last three fights, a beautiful home. Nobody questions Crawford’s innate, tremendous ability. By beating a naturally bigger guy [in Kell Brook], decisively, that’s a big statement that’s he’s making. The question is, ‘Does he pay the bills?’ Look, you can have the greatest opera singer in the world. If the fans don’t support it, you’re out of business.”
UFC President wasn’t at all happy with the way the boxing promoter treats one of his biggest superstars and he let him know about his position on the matter.
“Can you imagine if I said that?” White said. “Are you f–king kidding me? You guys would murder me if I said that. I’d never heard the end of that. That’s what you do. That’s not Crawford’s f–king problem, that’s your problem.
“His problem isn’t to figure out how you make money. You f–king signed a deal with this kid, at how many people we have on the roster, our roster is very inflated right now. We have a very big roster, the biggest roster we’ve ever had in the history of the company. I have to pay all these kids. How I pay them is not their f–king problem. It’s my f–king problem.
“Imagine me saying ‘oh, I gotta pay Conor McGregor this much money, I could have built a house in Beverly Hills.’ Shut the f–k up, you f–king scumbag. Pay your f–king fighter what you owe him, do your job. Bob Arum is a piece of f–king sh–.”
