Terence Crawford On Making History And Making Money His Way l Out Of Office

0:01What's up, everybody? And welcome to another Boardrooms Out of Office. My name is Rich Kleiman, and I am honored today to sit with the undisputed welterweight champion of the world and pound for pound, the greatest fighter in the world. What's up, Terrence? Bud Crawford. What's up with it, man? What's good, bro? Just chilling, man, enjoying this New York weather. I feel you. This New York weather has been miserable, but we happy to have the champion time, bro. Well, at least it ain't burning hot. That's true. A lot of people are hyped that you were coming on the show. I told KD yesterday, everybody's talking about you, man.

0:35Do you feel, can you feel that? Can you feel like the excitement, and it's been this way, but can you feel it after the fight on the 29th, just this new level of focus and attention? Of course, I definitely can feel it, given the fact of all the celebrities that's still talking about it to this day. And the fight was a week and a half ago. And everybody, you know, still saying positive things about it. And when you hear the words pound for pound, because I would be lying if I said I was like a boxing fan in the way I'm a hoop fan, but I'm a sports fan. So obviously when there's greatness, I keep up with it and I follow it.

1:15But one of the things I've noticed about the sport and maybe one of the reasons why the sport at times disconnected from the layman fan is like all the different belts, all the different classes. Right. And sports fans like to understand exactly what they're watching. But I think everybody knows that the title pound for pound, that's like bigger than any belt, bigger than anything. And there's no real title for that, except for like, that's what people call you. Is that what you as a fighter, as great as you ultimately are like fighting for, for that title? Or was it also or as important for you to like, let me get all these welterweight belts or let me fight up another class?

1:54Or is it like, I want that pound for pound title? Well, coming up, I never was like pound for pound. That wasn't nothing that I was thinking about or worried about. I was worried about collecting them belts and getting my name in the history books as one of the greatest fighters to ever do it. And the pound for pound just hopped on my table once, you know, I was beating the likes of Gamboa and those type of guys. and floyd mayweather has always been pound for pound king when he was uh boxing so i'm like oh man all right you know i mean i'm gonna get i'm gonna get there one day yeah then once my name start getting mentioned uh in the top pound for pound rankings then that's when i was like all right floyd retired andre war retired there's no doubt about it that i'm pound for pound best fighter in the world and even though you didn't start your journey trying to get that title now that you have that title is it feel as good as it sounds to the fans is that like the feeling of being the best of the best no i i think it it feels good to be recognized as that because you know i always felt as if i was number one pound for pound fighter in the world I always said it.

3:16But I didn't get the credit for it. Some had me on their pound for pound list as number one. Like ESPN, they had me as number one. But, you know, the ring had me as number two. So I was top one, top two. Some of them even had me at three. But it wasn't unanimous. So to get everybody recognition now, it's like, okay. Now they appreciate my talent and my skills. Going into the fight on the 29th, it felt like I watched a preview the night before, and it was pretty split amongst the commentators I was listening to about who they thought was going to win the fight, and then you really handed it to them.

4:03What was your mindset going into the fight? My mindset was crystal clear, just win the fight. You know, do everything that you said you was going to do. and once that bell ring, make them respect you right out the gate. And that's what, you know, I did and got the victory. Do you follow any of the pre-fight shit or is it too much? No, I do. I do. I try to keep my ears to a little bit of everything so after the fight I can come back and be like, okay, I remember you. I remember you. You know, y 'all was doubting me. Y 'all was going against me. Y 'all said these things about me. Y 'all said that about me.

4:44And, you know, now it's my time to reply to all those things y 'all were saying. So you do use it. Like, you know, I always like I find it funny sometimes when you see some of the things that Steph Curry or Tom Brady or some of the great ones when they win, they'll talk about like a comment that some pointless journalist made. And it's like you hear Brady say it or something like this for everyone that thought I fell off the cliff. And it's like, damn, you was really listening to Max Kellerman. Like, that's who said it. But it is. It's something that is used, I think, maybe whether it affected Tom Brady or not.

5:20It's like, let me grab this material. Let me put this in the mirror every morning to remind myself that's what people are saying. But like, really, it's just Max Kellerman talking. But is that what you need to do for motivation at times? You have to like build that storyline up and get a little bit of the material that people are saying to continue to like motivate yourself every time you're in the gym well i'm always motivated that's that's that's not a issue but that just put a little extra fire on the motivation yeah that i got inside of me to to see the people that don't know me that's saying things that they don't know about me that they heard from like a person in the media and they just take it and run with it and then hearing people in the media say certain things and um about me that that they don't know and it just just spark a flame in me like okay i'm gonna prove y 'all wrong because you know this is not a team sport yeah i'm in control of this i'm the one that's fighting i'm the one that's in control of my destiny.

6:35So y 'all can't help him. Yeah. Y 'all can't call a time out for him. Y 'all can't interfere. Y 'all can say what all y 'all want. But once that bell rings, it's going to be me and that guy. And I just use that as extra motivation because I've been told I couldn't do a lot of things in life. And I always overcame them with hard work and dedication. When you stood up on the ropes and started calling out dude in the crowd the other night. Amazing moment. How premeditated was that? Or was it just in the heat of the moment? It definitely was the heat of the moment. It's crazy because a lot of people are like, man, how did you manage to find Charlo?

7:13When I was coming out, when I was coming into the ring, he was just like, his eyes was just locked on me. And it's like, nobody was there and all I seen was him. And so I walked and I looked at him. He looking at me like this. And I was I was just like, man, I'm not even going to worry about that dude. Like, focus on what's in front of me. And then once I got that knockdown, you know, it wasn't nothing. But I was feeling the rage that was in me. And then the second one, I went over there and I said something to him. And the third one, I said something to him. And then after the fight, I was like, yeah.

7:54And I looked at him like, you next? Like, you know. And he applauded me. He was like, congratulations. I was like, all right, thanks. You know what I mean? Because it's kind of like always been fighting for that recognition. Always been fighting for my just due because I didn't have the backing like everybody else. I didn't have the media push like all these other fighters. That's name is, you know, bigger than mine, but I've accomplished way more than theirs. uh so you know that's all i you know wanted was my my respect and and you know um that was it do you ever have a chance to like after a fight like that to think about fighting for 600 when you start your career then to be like a unanimous welterweight champion on top of the world and can you step out sometimes and just be like damn like when you're back in Omaha just just kind of remind yourself of how far you came because you haven't lost a fight you know I'm saying like I think sometimes when you're chasing I know it's this way in business too it's this way in life like you're chasing chasing chasing and I do think the journey is more fun I think we all feel like the journey ultimately is more fun I mean I remember being with KD minutes after each championship and I could see in his eyes like the journey is more fun you know the journey is the feeling but I do think it's important at times to just be like damn Like, I'm nice.

9:24You know what I'm saying? I haven't lost. I'm that guy from Omaha, Nebraska. Do you have a chance to ever allow yourself to feel that? Yeah, definitely. I always felt that I was the best. But a lot of people always ask me why I haven't moved and why I still be in the same neighborhood that I grew up in. and don't move out into a nicer neighborhood. And I'm just like, well, this is the neighborhood that molded me into the guy that I am, and this is where it all began. And I think that's what keeps me level-headed and keeps me grounded because a lot of people can get caught up in the fame and the hype and whatnot, and they can change.

10:12And then they can lose it all because boxing only lasts for so long. Yeah. And after that, you know, it's over with. Now, you know, people are going to look at you for who you really are and not what you once did. I never want to be one of those fighters that have all the limelight, have all these people chasing them. And you see them now. They didn't gave their life to the sport. They got, you know, brain damage. they they talking with slurs and you know it's hard to see them and then you look at the crowd and you look at the people nobody's noticing them they notice in the next star you know and i've never want to be like them or you know you see them they don't they don't have nothing to show for it really you know but the damage that they accumulated from taking all those headshots so yeah I'm just like, man, I never want, I just want to be me.

11:17What you see is what you get. I never want to be anybody else. And the balance of going home probably like soon as you get off that plane is a reminder where you came from. But I would also probably assume that it being Omaha, Nebraska also plays a part in it, right? Because a lot of times you hear people work their whole life to get out of where they grew up and they want to give back to where they're from. They want to help and rebuild, but they're not trying to live there. They're not trying to deal with the distractions. But you don't have that back home. It feels like that's where your safe haven is, right?

11:49Yeah, no, that's definitely what I'm destined to do, you know, is give back to my community. You know, I invest in my community. I have a jam in my community. And, you know, I'm easy to be seen in my community. So, like, my community is everything because growing up, I know the type of things that I was getting into, the type of things that I was doing. And I know the younger generation is worse, you know. So, there's a lot of young mothers having children that really shouldn't be having children. and they don't have no inspiration, you know, father figure type of guy to look up to to walk that straight and narrow, you know.

12:43So it's like how can I give back, you know. I don't necessarily feel that I need to do things for people just to put on Instagram to show people that I'm doing things. So I get a lot of, oh, what are you doing for the community? And people always say, well, he got a gym that's free. You know, your kid can go down there and don't have to pay a dime to enter his gym and to work out and to do this and do that, and you don't have to pay for nothing. But there's way more that I do in the community that I don't, you know, talk about because, you know, if I do something for this kid, I'm doing it out of Congress in my heart.

13:26I'm not doing it just to show that I'm doing it. So I don't have to get on social media and say, hey, look, I bought this kid some shoes because he has holes in the shoes and I want everybody to pat my back. Yeah. I don't do that. When I do things for people, you know, they know who they are and we just keep it moving. It's crazy because that's how it should be. Right. But it's like rare to hear that because I think now if it doesn't exist on social media, it doesn't exist. to some people but the academy you built i was reading about some of the things that these kids get out of it and it isn't just about boxing which is amazing it's like you know boxing's the backdrop right boxing is the the anchor but it's a chance for them all to to dream and grow and realize there's more and i think that's really what it is right just like the opportunity for more know that there's more and coming from omaha nebraska like you've shown the world there that there's more like the business of being a boxer outside of the sport have you evolved in how it how much focus you want to give that or what's important outside the ring for you or do you always just rely on like if I do my job in the ring the money will be right it'll work out or do you do you see that as part of what it means to be the champ like all those other things off and out of the ring?

14:49No, 100%. You know, I once was that guy that, you know, let me take this and just do my job. Let me sign this contract and get this guarantee. But once you get older and once you start noticing that you're in control of your own destiny, you're in control of your own business, you got to start thinking business-wise. Okay, so let me see the contracts. Let me sign the contracts. Let me see what's really coming in. Because I feel like us boxers, we get the short end of the stick every single time we step foot in the ring if we're not in control of our own career. You know, I took a step out of, you know, leaving my promotional company and being my own boss.

15:43A lot of people say they're their own boss, but I got a great team around me that, you know, help me and make sure that I'm great in all avenues, you know. And it's very critical for fighters to know what's on the table. Because a lot of us, we would take a$5 million guarantee not knowing there's$30 million that we missed. not coming in that we missed that we should have we should have got other revenue that could have been generated given given the circumstances that we might fight fight a top fighter yeah you know when two fighter top fighters fight you know you got the promoter they sucking up all the money you know the advisors the managers you know everybody the the sanction bodies you know everybody taking a little piece out of this pot that's really the fighters and but the fighters don't know because they satisfied with the guarantee.

16:43So I think it's very critical that these fighters, you know, start learning the business. And the more they learn, the more they're going to, you know, stop all the corruption that's happening in boxing because boxing is one of the most corrupted sports there is and there have been in the history of sports. That's what I was going to ask you. Like as a fan, I'm watching this and there's different sanctioning committees. There's different governing bodies. Some are regulated here. Some regulated here. It must be overwhelming for the boxers or is it not? Is it something you just accept that this is what the sport of boxing is like?

17:24Or is there a feeling maybe amongst some of the like marquee fighters that there could be something to do to change this? Like what is WBC, WBA, IBF? All of these have their own regulations, their own governance, right? And then there's promoters involved that I'm sure operate in their own way and political relationships that run deep. Can it be overwhelming for a younger fighter a bit? He don't know. They don't know. They don't know. They signed that contract and they let, they promotion, no company handle that. And they manager handle that, you know? And they don't know. You know, I was a victim of that.

18:04I didn't know what I know now. I never knew, you know, coming back up because I wasn't able to see anything. I wasn't able to question anything because I signed a contract stating that these are my guarantees. These are my numbers going up. Yeah. You know, so I wasn't able to say, okay, well, what's coming in? Yeah. Or how much you getting for sponsorships or how much you giving for the event budget and stuff like that. I wasn't able to ask those type of questions. But once I started asking those type of questions or started learning a little bit here and there, then it became a problem between me and my old promoter.

18:55And at that point in time, I knew it was time to go. I bet you those older promoters, That's like the business. Like, let me pull the wool over their eyes until they find out. And when they find out, it is what it is. Well, they all do it. I want to just say, you know, my old promoter, they all do it. That's what I'm saying. All the old school promoters, right? Or promoters, period. All of them. It's meant to keep the fighter blind. Keep the fighter, you know, in a place where he's not asking questions. You know, he's not looking for anything. Here, let me give you this little guarantee. Show up.

19:30You be on your way. But at the same time, it's so much more on the table that the fighter is really obligated to that he never even see because he signed a guarantee not knowing there's much more to come from. Are there no OGs in the game that when you was coming up with their arm around you was like, man, check them contracts? Or that's not the spirit of it? No, not at all. Some of them don't even know. They don't know either. Some of them don't even know to have. Because they've been dealing with that their whole career that they think is normal. So the things that they do know and that they do hit the little fire on the hand, like, hey, listen, you got to watch out for this.

20:18You got to watch out for that. You know, that's small things. Yeah. You know, like you got to get incorporated. Like Tim Bradley definitely, you know, put me on game about getting incorporated and, you know, things like that and things that I need to ask for and stuff like that. So he definitely looked out for me a lot. But, like, you know, Floyd, he broke the bank, you know, and I don't see him trying to, you know, give the game to the young fighters because he's a promoter now. Yeah. So I can't give everybody the game if I'm one of them now. It's a business at the end of the day. So if they made all this money, you know, on our backs as fighters, and now I'm a promoter, I'm going to do the same thing that they once was doing and just say it's just the game of the business.

21:19It's just the game. Yeah. do um like how important and and what is the makeup of a team for boxers because there's no union right there's no union for boxing so what's the typical like infrastructure around a fighter i would say a fighter you know you need to have a great lawyer you know overall that knows what he's doing that season that's been around the block that you know um No weight. Yeah. I wouldn't even say weight. There's not no pushover because you got to understand, all of these, you know, promoters like Don King and Bob Arum, they lawyers. You know what I mean? First. They lawyers.

22:04And if they're not lawyers, they got some of the baddest lawyers around them, you know, so they can give you those type of contracts where they protect and they sell, but they confusing you at the same time. So you can sell your soul. And yeah, man, you get you a good advisor, get you a great coach, you know, and you'll be on your way, you know. But most importantly, you need, you know, great people around you that want the best for you. So lawyer, advisor, manager and the trainer, right? Well, really, you can just you and lawyer. It can just be you and lawyer, you know, and you can go. The sky's the limit.

22:47Because now nothing can get by you. Yeah. You know, and yeah, that's it. You can walk in the room, you know, and you can pick any coach you want as long as you got the business right. Got the business right. You know, once the business right, sky's the limit. So when you win a fight like you did the other night, is it you look at your team like it's time, Like, now y 'all got to step up one more notch too? No, I got a top-tier team now. Well, so I like to think I'm top-tier too, but after KD won his chip, he looked at me like, now what, brother? Like, let's go. Let's bring more in. No, but listen, I looked at my team.

23:32My team looked at me, and we said we was going to get that fight. That was something that, you know, was yearning for five years, you know, and we're going to get that fight. They looked at me, we're going to get that fight. We're going to get this shit done. That's dope. You know, and I sat back and I was like, all right, I believe them. You know, so I was confident that the fight was going to happen. 100 % confident. And, you know, I don't look at them like, now what? You know, I just, hey, we in the moment. Yeah, we did it. We in the moment. And, you know, they trust me as well as I trust them.

24:14And we're going to take it far as far as it goes. What's the, like, lead up to a fight that big for you training-wise? Oh, man. The lead up was just training. You know, start like a certain amount of months before with a certain level of training ramp up for that fight? Yeah, I had a pre-camp. This was the first time I ever had a pre-camp. So I had a pre-camp before my training camp. So, yeah, it was tough. It was tough. And, yeah, like you're going through all this marketing stuff with your team, going through all this promotional stuff with your team, and, you know, everything was strategic, you know, from, you know, me training to the media to everything.

25:03Everything was, you know, strategic. and I got to give credit to my team for all that. And do you do this back in Omaha or do you get out of town to train? I train in Colorado Springs, but I went to Vegas first. Got it. And how do you balance? Because I've seen and read how much of a family man you are and how important that is and how involved you are and how present you are. And obviously that's the most respectable quality. But is that tough to balance when you got to get into fight mode? Like the family knows, like, all right, he's going in the phone booth now. No, not at all. I bounce back and forth.

25:43You tucking him in at night, training during the day? No. When I say bounce back and forth, it's like my niece, she had a graduation. I had a child. My son's birthday, he came, stayed with me for like two weeks, him, my boys. so it's like I'm bouncing back and forth got it no a lot of people like eight man you train them like man listen training is cool but they priority first yeah you know so I think those times that I was away like a day or two days you know helped me more than hurting me because I'm training so hard and I never really let my body you know rest so those little days that I was able to get you know some rest was critical.

26:31Yeah. What, I noticed, you know, obviously Eminem walked in with you to the fight. You had BBC on your back, Pharrell's BBC. Grew up 80s, 90s. How much did, like, the explosion of hip hop culture during that time impact you? And, you know, how much of, I guess, the influence of hip hop culture do you see in terms of your style, in terms of how you approach your business? And like when you make a move like that with Eminem, what is the background on that? How does something like that come about? And is that something you see as like, let me make a moment right here. This is like, this is a show.

27:12Let me put on a show. Or is there more to that? Man, I love music, man. I'm probably one that don't even have a, I would say a style of music that I listen to because I listen to all different levels of music. And business-wise, I don't look at music as anything to do with business. But the way the Eminem thing happened was, I would say it was greatness. You know, everybody was just like, what you coming out to? What you coming out to? Everybody always asking me, what you coming out to? So if you can look at the history of all the songs that I walked out to, it kind of has some meaning towards it, behind it, for that fight.

28:07And I always say the song, pick me. I don't pick the song. You know, I'll be in the gym and I'll be listening to all different type of music. And one song might play and I'll just be like, boom, there it go. That's it. Yeah, that's it. Like, just hit me. And the Eminem came about. I wanted to do Drop the World on Your Head by Eminem and Lil Wayne. But for every reason, that didn't come to fruition. And I was just like, man, I don't think Eminem ever walked nobody out. You know, and he really don't come outside. Never. And I was just like, man, that'd be dope if Eminem walked me out. because I was just thinking of not only a star to bring me out.

28:56I wanted an icon. And I was just like, man, you think Eminem? You know what I mean? What you think about Eminem? Me and Shakur, he was just like, man, that'd be dope. Eminem commenting on Instagram. I never knew he was a fan of boxing because you never hear nothing about him. So I was just like, that's dope. It was exciting. It was a great moment. And I think everything lined up for history and greatness to be witnessed that night. And him being there was a testimony to how great I really am. Yeah, that's right. That's dope. Creed III, did you enjoy that? Loved it. Loved it. It was dope. You know, I told Michael B.

29:45Jordan, I said, man, to see him in his element doing all the directing and acting at the same time. I said, man, I ain't seen nothing like that ever before. You know, it was crazy to see him in one mode, then see him in another mode, then see him in another mode. So he had the regular mode where he just like, yeah, yeah, you know what I mean? We going to do this. I just want you to do this. And then he had another mode where it's acting. And then he got another mode where he directing like, no, we can't do this. We can't do that. We got to do this like this. Let's change it up. Y 'all get on set.

30:27I'm like, this dude is so talented. That's crazy. You know what I mean? It was crazy. So you saw all three hats that he's wearing. Yeah. You want to be around film again? Yeah, that's dope. I would love to be around film again. So when you look now at the future for you, and let me ask you a question, and probably a stupid question, but as someone that's not native to boxing every day, how much is the weight disparity a real thing? Like when I was reading about you and Tank, right, and the different weight classes, but the chances of potentially fighting one day. As boxers, is the weight difference really, as much of an obstacle from a fight happening as it is just the way it is.

31:16You know what I'm saying? Would that really make a difference? The weight? It would? Definitely. It does. Tank fight at 135 pounds. I fight at 147 pounds. So that's two weight classes apart. That's a big gap. That's a big gap. Given the size advantage that I will have over him. And, you know, he's a little dude, too. He probably, like, 5 '5". You know, I'm 5 '8". Long arms. So, I'm... It wouldn't be an idea matchup for him. But I would definitely... You're down. I would definitely walk on. And what about going... You guys could... He could go up. You could go down a bit, right? That's how I'm...

31:58I don't know. You're not going down at all? At all. Never. I'm going up. So, you want to go up, and he'd have to go up to meet you. Yeah, definitely. one so is there a next weight class you want to fight at 154 pounds and what belt is that that's the junior middleweight junior middleweight yeah so is that your next fight i don't know i don't know everybody uh want to know terrence next fight but terrence don't even know terrence don't know why is everyone call you bud my mom named me that when i was probably like one she just was named me bud good nickname was good though because everybody thought i named i was my mom gave me that name you know i don't know why and so i said mom how you get bud out of terrence and she was like oh somebody was calling you spud they just kept calling you spud i'm like don't call my son spud call him bud i was like oh all right nicknames don't always have the uh the the backgrounds for meaning it just happens right then it sticks and 35 years later you terrence bud crawford definitely the promotion side of your business and and when you switch that over do you have time in your calendar and your routine to like flip business mind and look at other fights that your promotions company is going to put together and then turn back into Terrence the fighter or it's just similar to family you manage it all no yeah for sure definitely when I take that step to go out and signed fighters, I would definitely, you know, make that switch.