Boxing
From a player’s perspective, Terence Crawford supports Conor Benn’s $15 million move
You pay your head coach. You pay assistants. You pay strength coaches. You pay your sparring partners. Managers take their percentage. Promoters take their share. Everyone around the player earns when the player earns.
On The Joe Rogan Experience, Crawford rejected the idea that Benn owed Eddie Hearn anything beyond the signed contract.
“He just signed with Zuffa. A lot of people said he was disloyal and Eddie Hearn and they were steadfast to him and this and that. He’ll get 15 million for his next game. Man, what are people talking about? I said it’s just business. It’s not personal to them. I said Conor Benn did what was best for him and his family. I said like the promotion companies will do what’s best for them and their family business. If the fighter they sign loses two fights in a row, he can fire them, no questions asked. Because now they are wasting money.
This is the logic of the gym. The camp lasts eight to ten weeks. You’re bringing in fresh bodies. You sharpen your jab, drill your right hand, and the next morning you make rounds that hurt. You lose weight. You run the risk of being wiped out and your market value changing in one round. This all happens in a career that ends sooner than most people realize.
Crawford pushed further.
“They feel like they don’t care about this person’s family. They don’t care about this person, you know, their relationship with them. They don’t come in there with their hearts like, ‘Oh man, like you, good buddy.’ They’re like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ It’s just business. Cut you. So when a player does the same thing as a promotional company, manager or anyone else, it’s all a sign of disloyalty, you this, you that. I want it to make sense.
Players understand something that outsiders don’t. Earning years are brief. You won’t get twenty prime years. You get a good few years where your reflexes are keen, your legs are delicate and your name still attracts attention.
If you lose twice, your phone will snail-paced down. Get knocked out and your bargaining power diminishes. That’s the risk every time you put your feet down and launch combos.
From a warrior’s perspective, the equation is uncomplicated. If there is a greater guarantee while your body is still intact, you take it. Belts still need to be earned in the featherlight by working behind the jab and finishing rounds well. The organizer may change the lineup. A warrior absorbs blows.
The window closes quickly. Players know this better than anyone else.
Boxing
Prince Naseem Hamed predicts Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua fight: ‘It’s going to sound crazy’
Ben Whittaker’s next few months are already taking shape following his quick knockout victory in Liverpool, and Adam Smith outlines a busy summer schedule that should finally see the delicate heavyweight fighter face stronger tests
Smith said Whittaker is expected to return to the United States in overdue June on the Jaron “Boots” Ennis card, then return to the UK in the summer for a major date in his hometown of Birmingham.
Whittaker stopped Brian Suarez in two rounds last weekend and performed brilliantly throughout, adding another early finish to the stretch that helped rebuild attention around him after his first fight with Liam Cameron ended in a draw.
Smith said the June outing would support expose Whittaker to a wider audience ahead of a bigger national night later in the year.
“He will fight at the end of June in America at the Boots Ennis gala. That’s good. Show him to a global audience. Then he will come back here in overdue summer, maybe early September and fight in Birmingham in a huge fight,” Adam Smith said in an interview with Sport Boxing.
Smith also named British opponents who could be next, naming Lyndon Arthur, Brad Rea and Craig Richards as possible options once Whittaker returns home.
Smith believes that in the long term, bigger domestic fights with Joshua Buatsi and Anthony Yard should come within the next year if Whittaker continues to win.
“Buatsis and Yards need to be delivered within the next 6-12 months.”
Whittaker has had a lot of notoriety since turning pro, but the activity and matchmaking are looking more grave now. The next two fights should tell more than the first ten.
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Last updated: 24/04/2026 at 17:38
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