The Breakfast Club - Terence Crawford Talks Upcoming Fight With Errol Spence, Staying Undefeated, Floyd Vs Gotti + More

Episode Date: June 15, 2023

Terence Crawford Talks Upcoming Fight With Errol Spence, Staying Undefeated, Floyd Vs Gotti + MoreSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey y'all, Nimany here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, The Story Pirates, and John Glickman, Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop. Flash, slam, another one gone. Bash, bam, another one gone. The crack of the bat and another one gone. The tip of the cap, there's another one gone. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history.

Like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. And it began with me. Did you know, did you know? I wouldn't give up my seat. Nine months before Rosa, it was Claudette Colvin. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records.

Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Char wherever you get your podcasts. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy, Charlamagne Tha Guy. We are The Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in the building. Yes, indeed. The brother Terrence Crawford.

Welcome. How you feeling? Feeling great. Fight goes down July 29th. Yes. I know you done heard this question a million times, but what took so long to make this fight happen, man? Man, listen.

To the mic, to the mic, to the mic. Listen, listen, listen. The the mic, to the mic, to the mic. Listen, listen, listen. The fight here, I'm excited. The fans are excited. So it don't matter how long it took, as long as we got to the finish line. You think this is going to be your toughest fight? I don't know. A lot of people ask me that every time I fight.

I don't know until I get in the ring with them. Absolutely. How do you prepare for this fight? Do you prepare the same way or is there any different preparation for this one than any other fight that you've had? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Just keep doing what I been doing

and everything else will play itself out. You gotta make some adjustments though. This is Earl Spence we talking about. This ain't no just. This the guy that you had picked over me. I did, I did. He picked him over you remember i remember remember i got it i don't i don't forget i got earl i do got earl yeah not because you're not great i just think you know styles make fights i think i think i got it definitely you feel pressure going into this fight not at all not

at all this is my moment. This is my time. This is what I've been waiting for. And the world's going to see July 29th. I always talk about, you know, nowadays it feels like everybody wants to be undefeated, right? Does that put more pressure on you? Because I think Floyd kind of did it with his 50-0. But back then, you lose a fight, it was fine. I see you in a rematch, and it was okay. It wasn't cool.

But now it seems like when you lose a fight now everybody's like oh it's washed it's over and i don't think i never felt any pressure i put my o on the line numerous of times with whoever they put in front of me i called out the best fighters in each division that I ever been in. Floyd have made it kind of hard for people to take a loss and keep going because so many people want to be like Floyd, and so many people was attracted to Floyd and follow Floyd career, and they felt as if you wasn't like Floyd, then you wasn't that guy. But people lose, people come back. Styles make fights, like he said, and things happen. So I never thought that a loss can define a fighter

in any way, shape, or form. Yeah, because Floyd's one of the best to ever do it but why just look at floyd why people don't look at ali uh you know lennox lewis all these great fighters have lost sugar ray lennon like tommy they've all lost because time times has changed social media have took an over so when tommy hearns and Ali and all those great fighters that came before us, they didn't have to deal with the politics. They didn't have to deal with social media slandering them and doing this and doing that to impress people. So it's kind of different. You feel like you don't get the respect that you deserve when it comes to a lot of these fights?

Like even with Charlemagne saying he thinks Errol's gonna beat you, do you feel like you're the underdog in a lot of this? It's just boxing. It's just boxing at the end of the day. Don't back down now! I'm not, I got Errol! You gonna lose.

You definitely gonna lose. But do you feel like you don't get the respect that you deserve? Always, always. Why is that? But how great I am. I look at all the great fighters that came before me. None of them got their respect until, A, they lost or they retired.

Nobody gave Floyd his respect until he retired. Then they realized how great he was. A lot of people didn't give Ali his respect until he retired. Then they realized how great he was. A lot of people didn't give Ali his respect. A lot of people didn't give Roy Jones his respect until they lost or they retired. Why the lost part? I don't know because I guess when one has lost or took in defeat to another great fighter,

they feel as if this fighter is not invincible. So they can feel as if he's on their level now. Oh, well, we brought him down to earth. Now we can laugh at him. Now we can praise him for all the good things that he done. Oh, I get what you're saying. Earl said your record was inflated. What does that word inflated mean?

Well listen, he can say all those type of things, but when you look at who I fought and who he fought, and you look at what I done to him, it's no comparison. Did Udis, I think I pronounced his name right, did he beat you in amateurs? Your Guinness Udis? Udis, yeah, yeah, he beat me in amateurs. And then Earl stopped him in the 10th round when they fought.

So Udis said there's no way you can beat Earl if Earl fights you the way he fought him. So does it matter if he beat someone who defeated you? Never. You the way he fought him so does it matter if he beat someone who defeated you never listen You talking about a fight that happened when I was 18 years old I was a little kid. I was a little boy. You know That that that same little boy is No way shape form fashion the same little boy You know I mean the grown man that I am today.

When I fought Ugas, I probably had like 40 fights. Ugas probably had hundreds coming from Cuba. They fighting all the international tournaments, national tournaments, all that. So he had more experience at the time. So I wouldn't base him beating me at 18 on a professional fight. We don't have no headgear on. We're fighting with smaller gloves.

We're fighting longer rounds, longer minutes in the rounds. So it's a lot of things that goes into fighting an amateur fight and fighting a professional fight. So a lot of people say, oh, well, you lost to Oogies and this and that. Well, a lot of people lost to a lot of people in the amateurs, and look what happened in the professional rankings. A lot of people can say, oh, well, Terrence, you lost to this guy, you lost to that guy. Okay, well, all the guys that I lost

to in the amateurs compared their career and professional to my career and professional. That's real. What did you learn from those losses that you were able to take in your professional career that kept you undefeated? Well, a lot of things. I learned how to cope with certain styles I learned how to capitalize on

the things that I was doing wrong so you just go back to the drawing board and fix the problem that that you had that led you to get the loss you got to learn from it and I felt like I learned from all my losses, and I got stronger. I got wiser. I got more experience. And that led me to be the person that I am today in the professional ranking. Did you watch the fight between Spence and Ugas? Of course.

And what did you think about it? It was a good fight. Errol did good. Ugas did good. And it was a good fight. Nowrol did good. Oogies did good. And it was a good fight. Now, that fight was what, 2021? I thought it was last year. Was it?

Maybe it was 21. It was 21. Now, he hasn't fought in over a year. So does that give you the advantage or disadvantage? What's your thoughts on that? I don't even look at that like that. He came off a longer layoff prior to that been in a car accident and he came back and he looked strong he looked good so i'm not banking on him not being in the ring

for him to come rusty or anything he's a professional he know how to fight so come fight night he'll be ready just like I will. Is it better to be an independent promoter or to be assigned to one of these companies? Well, in my situation, it's better for me to be independent. I get to control my own destiny. I get to control my own faith. And the rest is uphill for me now. I don't understand why the promoters don't want to make the best fights.

Like, this is the fight we all want to see. This is the fight that's going to make the money. So what kept them from just making this fight? Well, politics. You got two sides. That's powerhouses. And neither side want to give in to the other side. And business-wise, it's better for me to do business in-house than outsource and have to share.

So it's kind of like a greed thing. And how draining is it doing all these interviews and press things when you got a fight coming up and you got to train? How draining is that? Because you got to fly and go here. And I even know Arrow was supposed to come up here this morning, but his flight was delayed. How draining is that physically Because you got to fly and go here and I even know Arrow was supposed to come up here this morning but his flight was delayed. How draining is that physically and mentally for you? Well, it's part of the game.

Long as I get up early, I got to get up earlier. Work out, come here, do this, do my other interviews and hit the road, get back to training. Training never stops. We just gotta alter it a little bit. Do y'all have a rematch clause in the contract? Yeah. Are you gonna exercise it?

Who? No. Ain't no need. Ain't no need. Ain't try to be slick. Did you just hear him say that? You thought he had one. But I feel like this is going to be one of those moments in time

where y'all do fight more than once. I don't know if it's going to be a trilogy, but definitely at least twice. I think so. Could be. Could be. Never know. Maybe something dramatic happened in the first fight

where he don't want no rematch. If that happens, let's say you win decisively, right? Let's say it happens. Would you retire? I don't know. I don't think there's a need for me to retire right now when I want to fight Jamel Charlo. Why would you say retire?

I mean, because this is the fight. Like, you know, this is the fight. This is the fight that whoever wins, this is probably going to end up being the number one pound for pound in the sport, I would think, right? Probably. Yeah. It will be.

It will be, yeah. It will be. So, I mean, like, you want Charlo, so I guess that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Have you seen the fight over the weekend when Mayweather got him? What was your thoughts on that fight? I didn't actually see the whole fight,

but I seen highlights of the fight and the incident. It was crazy. You look at Mayweather and be like, damn, at his age, he still got it? Oh, definitely. He's still moving and sliding. And even when he was being attacked in that ring, he still kept his composure.

It still sucked on me. Man, that right hand made Gotti change the subject. He was looking for somebody to step in the middle. But it's cool, though, man. It's all for entertainment. And I don't know what led that incident to happen, but it happened, and it's over with now. Do you seek advice from guys like Mayweather?

Because he was an independent promoter, and did you talk to him just about that and boxing and other things? No, when me and Mayweather talk, it's more like, you know, how you doing, how the family, how everything going, how you feeling, good, stay focused, stuff like that. I look up to Mayweather. He's been one of my favorite fighters since I can remember him and Roy Jones Jr.

And yeah, I admire his work ethic and everything that he's done in the sport. What boxer gives you the best advice? What boxer give me the best advice? Just in general, boxing, life, whatever. Man, a lot of boxers. I can say my coach, I can say my coach. I can say my brothers.

I can say my friends. I take a lot from a lot of people because you can learn something from everybody, not just people that you think is on a higher platform or on a bigger stage than you so uh yeah if if i can seek advice from anybody i'll take it i always wonder when when fighters get in the ring do they do they take uh past fights with them or do you just whatever happened in the old fights you just leave them there like is every fight a new thing for me yeah every fight is a new new thing and that's how i try to go in training camp with a clear head

my coaches they train me to the best of my ability and make sure that if we had any mishaps or mess-ups in a previous fight that we capitalize on that and we fix the problem and that's pretty much how we go into camp i always wanted to know when when a boxer picks a fight right you know any any good boxers they're going to analyze your tape analyze every fight that you do and watch you you know any any good boxers they're gonna analyze your tape analyze every fight that you do and watch you you know because we all have you know we're a habit right you have a habit of doing certain things do you how much do you change to make sure that they don't study that habit well my thing is i'm so versatile and elusive that I can capitalize on anything my opponent's ever done in the ring. And I think that's why I rate myself so high, higher than other fighters.

Because you can fix one problem, but the more the fight goes, I'm experienced enough to recognize another problem. So I think that's why I rate myself high as I do. Who was your toughest opponent that you've had so far? That dude from Lithuania? I can't pronounce his name. Kavalaskis. Whatever.

The one they say might have knocked you down. I don't know if he was a slip. I would say the hardest fight in my career, it would have to be between Igas and Gamboa. Wow. Gamboa feet was just so fast. And he was so small to where he was darting in and darting out. And he was hitting me and making me miss just by an inch.

So it was kind of like I had to make certain adjustments, and he was making adjustments, and I was making adjustments, and it was just like it was a chess match, but it was a fast chess match, and he was getting it better in me because he was more experienced, but at the same time, he was more explosive. So I just had to figure out the puzzle a little longer. What stops you from being frustrated in that ring?

Because most people watching that fight would have probably been frustrated and probably would have left the hand down, left the chin available. So what makes you not get frustrated and calm down and relaxes you? Because you see it all the time when you look at boxers in the ring,

they're not listening to the coach. You could tell that their mind is on something else. Yeah, your demeanor never changes. It never changes at all. Just like right now in this interview don't change don't change no it's just you know i think like i said the experience i seen it all i've been in the ring with it all and i know what to do and i know what i have to do so when i get in those tough moments and those uh tough times and those tough rounds i know keep

doing what you're doing it all playing out you know you just got to stay true to yourself and fight your fight if it ain't if one thing ain't working you gotta resort to something else try something else you can't just stick to the same thing if it ain't working resort to something else. Try something else. You can't just stick to the same thing. If it ain't working, then try something else. You got 12 rounds to do it. And if you don't, then you'll be banging your head on the table like, why didn't I do this? Why didn't I try this?

You're already getting hit. Might as well try to do something different. But if you have a whole game plan that you worked on through training camp, do you just abandon that? You can't just have one game plan. Right, right, right. You got to have multiple. You know, what happens if that one game plan don't work?

Then what you going to do? You're going to be stuck in that one mode trying to do the same thing that ain't been working for the last 10 rounds. Then you gonna be desperate, banking on the knockout, swinging for the fences, and that's how people get hurt. When you say you fixed your problems, what problems did you fix after the Gamboa fight? I don't know.

Oh, you can't, okay. I ain't giving you too much. What about dude from Lithuania, do you feel like that was a knockdown? No, I don't. I feel as if he pushed me. As you can see, as soon as the ref said fight, I stepped right to him. He's very strong.

Very strong, explosive, good fighter, technical. That's a fight that you could say I wasn't listening to my coaches and my corner I was more emotional in that fight because I felt as if I had something to prove I went in there looking for the knockout so I didn't want to box, I didn't want to use my

skills, I just wanted to you know, fight and that's what happens when you go in there and fight the wrong fight but what's gonna stop you from doing that this time because you can't do that again because you want because i know you want to prove yourself i know you want to knock him knock errol out you can't he's big he's naturally bigger than you he's strong he's the big guy he's the big bad wolf i didn't hurt at all he's strong he's this he's that he bad wolf. I didn't hurt at all. He's strong. He's this.

He's that. He's this. He's that. So can he get hurt? Yeah, he's a man. He's a human. Okay. So what's going to stop him from banging with me?

I'm not a coach or in your corner, but I wouldn't ask. I wouldn't suggest you bang with him. Why? I think it's- Trying to say he's not as powerful? What are you trying to say? Right. What are you trying to say?

What are you trying to say, Sean? Are you trying to say he's not as powerful? I think he to say what you're trying to say what are you trying to say you're trying to say he's not as powerful say it clearly let's be clear terence crawford is amazing we know that what he does what you say what i'm saying is why do you view that and how do you know i don't know what makes you what makes you what makes you think that probably decides i think yeah i think i don't know if you can hurt him is what i'm saying i've seen you hurt people yeah I don't know if you can hurt him is what I'm saying I've seen you hurt people before I don't know you can hurt somebody inside did he get hurt his last fight yes do you think I hear harder than his last opponent yes okay case close yeah but you got to get to him though so you saying this man can't get to him is that what you

say i'm just saying you got to get to him you got to get in there to do it okay well the the getting in there is the get between the ropes right and we in there right it's going to be a great fight so when you speak to people like that right what stops you from saying you're not getting emotion be like you know what trying something because obviously there's a lot of people like charlamagne that that feels like it's not a that's not no don't act it's not let's not act like he's an underdog in this fight he is kind of an underdog the way you're talking no i think it's about i think people think it could go either way this is this my man red is a great boxing guy he says you win no problem my barber says you win no problem these are the debates I've been having since the fight's been announced.

But Charlamagne don't feel that way. What is it with Suwan? Listen, that's his opinion. When people have an opinion, it's like, asshole, everybody got one. That is true. That is absolutely true. Have you thought about how you would deal with a loss

in case it does happen? No, I don't think about things like that. That is absolutely true. That is true. Have you thought about how you would deal with a loss in case it does happen? No. I don't think about things like that. You know, my mind is just clear right now. Things happen. They happen. You know, but we prepare for the victory. That's it.

Ain't no, you going to lose? Nah, we don't think what's wrong with you how you gonna ask have you prepared for a loss if you lose what kind of that's the same question

that you kind of asked with the having the zero record like you know some people lose some people don't so if you do lose have you thought about

how you prepare for that nah we don't we don't prepare for that now for a young boxer out there or somebody that doesn't know, what is your daily routine and training? What does that deal with?

Because most people just see the finished product, right? They see your boxing and don't know how much training it actually takes. So what does a day-by-day with Terrence Crawford look like? Work. Work, work, work, work, work. What time do you get up usually? It depends. Sometimes we get up at 5. Sometimes we get up at 6. You run, you ride bikes, you go work. What time do you get up usually? It depends. Sometimes we get up at 5.

Sometimes we get up at 6. You run, you ride bikes, you go straight to the gym, you box. We do it all. We do it all. It depends on the day. It depends on how my body feeling. It depends on the weather. It depends on a lot of things that I can't control.

So as long as we're getting the work done, that's all that matters. Now another question most people ask is when it comes to having sex before the fight. Oh my God. How long do you abstain from having sex? Everybody keep asking that. Because people always want to know that. Man.

And it ain't no women asking you that. You ever think that's crazy, right? Right. Exactly. But don't turn this on me. Damn. Hey, listen man. I don't know this on me. Hey, listen, man. I don't know about other people,

but it relaxes me. And that's something that I've been doing my whole career. So you ain't abstaining. It is what it is. It is what it is. I think it's a, well, me personally, I know it's a myth, you know, But I wouldn't tell anybody else to go out there and try to be like Terrence Crawford because they heard Terrence Crawford say, oh, man, you can have sex and it don't do nothing to you.

I'm just saying for me, it never affected me. Regardless of how this fight goes, would you ever give somebody like boots uh like boots the shot in the ring a young boy like geronimo listen listen i'm open for for all of them like i said i never turned down a fight in my whole career never dug dodged walked away and ran from nobody every person that the media have put and said, Terrence you need to fight him or Terrence, he's chasing you, I fought him. If you can go back to when I fought Derry Jean when he was talking crazy to me and Hank Lundy

when everybody was saying, oh you need to fight Hank, you need to do this, you need to do that. You know, I didn't fought him all. What would be the benefit of an OG like you giving somebody like a booty shot just just to satisfy the fan mm-hmm that's it because he's an up-and-coming comer he doesn't have anything to offer nothing at all but it would just be something for you guys

it's an exciting fight would you ever fight Yugus again in the pros just to do it for what what would I be getting out of that

right now at this at this stage in my career I'm looking for things that benefit me. When I fought Ugas, he was undefeated. He was top contender, Olympian. He had all the accolades. After I beat him, everybody was slandering him. Oh, he green machine.

He did see that. He fight a guy that nobody knows. Just because you didn't know him, that don't mean that he wasn't a good fighter. Just because you don't know him, that doesn't mean that, you know, he deserved to be where he was because he was my mandatory. Just like when I just fought Avenidion. He was ranked number six in the division, but everybody was mad that I took that fight because things wasn't right with the aerospace and my negotiation.

So people was mad. Can't get mad. Things didn't happen for a reason. But now we here. Everybody got the fight that they wanted. And July 29th, we're going to go out there and put on a show. Word. And Earl, I think it was against you.

He did get hurt a little bit, but he still stopped him in the 10th round. So you can still hurt him. He still gets stopped. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. I look forward. I can't wait to see it, though.

You going to be there? No, I'm not going to be there. Come on, man. You did all that talking years ago, and you ain't going to be there. Nope. I'm going to be watching it from home. I know how y'all guys from Omaha get down. I want to watch the

fight in peace. We appreciate you for joining us. When's the last time you hit a civilian? Man, shut up, man. You want to hit one right now? Nah, nah, we don't do that. We don't do that. Why are you doing that, man? Just making sure. Out of all respect for Terrence Crawford, we just talking boxing. It's just like picking a sporting event. It is,

but I'm picking the winner. That's all. You said you not sure if he can bang how hard he can hit. I just wanted to prove it to you. I said against Earl. There's probably 10 other people you can name. I'll pick Bud over. But it's a different type of animal. That's all I'm saying. Do you rise to the level of your competition?

Do I? Yeah. Have you watched my career? Absolutely. That's your answer. Okay. One time's a little jab. Shut up, man.

All right. It's Terrence Crawford, ladies and gentlemen. Don't forget to tune in and get your pay-per-view July 29th, and we appreciate you for joining us. One last question. You think about stuff like pay-per-view numbers? You can't? I can't.

That's out of our control. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, you got the people that have the the websites to steal the fights and stuff like that and stuff that you can't control you just go in there and focus on things that you can't control. I feel like that's become a thing now like that's become a stat that people brag about now fighters. I'm like, who cares? Well. I mean, for your money, your pockets, of course.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, listen, you know, the bigger the numbers, the bigger, you know, you become. All right. That's why Floyd was money made with him because of the numbers that he was producing. That's why everybody wanted to fight him. That's why every time he stepped foot in the ring he demanded what he demanded because he knew what he was going to draw so yeah absolutely

all right well there you have it it's Terrence Crawford good luck on your fight July 29th it's the Breakfast Club good morning hey guys I Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey y'all, Nimany here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called

Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, The Story Pirates, and John Glickman, Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history. Like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. Did you know, did you know, I wouldn't give up my seat. Nine months before Rosa, it was called a moment. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records.

Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.