Floyd Mayweather pushing to sign Terence Crawford to promotional deal

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is openly campaigning for Terence Crawford to join his company.

The retired five-division world champion, who founded Mayweather Promotions in 2007, has stated since 2017 that Crawford, who has won world titles in three weight classes, is the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. It appears Mayweather is willing to put his money where his mouth is.

Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs), of Omaha, Nebraska, who currently holds the WBO welterweight title, saw his contract with Top Rank come to an end following his 10th-round stoppage win against Shawn Porter last November in Las Vegas. Two months later, the southpaw sued Bob Arum and company for breach of contract as well as racial bias.

Crawford, who is currently a free agent, can relate with Mayweather, who also had a frosty relationship with the 90-year-old promoter. Mayweather, however, bought out his contract with Top Rank in 2006 after paying Arum a whopping $750,000. The following year, Mayweather, then 30 years of age, fought Oscar De La Hoya in a super fight that initially set the record for the most lucrative bout in history, which Mayweather would go on to break twice more, all while inscribing his legacy as the best of his era to step into the ring.

While Crawford is five years older than Mayweather when he departed Top Rank, the Hall of Fame fighter is itching to give Crawford, who is close to landing a long-awaited undisputed 147-pound championship battle against Errol Spence Jr., the rare chance of joining the 'Money' train.

“It's no different from Chinese supporting the Chinese, Dominicans supporting Dominicans, Puerto Ricans supporting Puerto Ricans, Mexicans supporting Mexicans. I'm a Black American. I'm going to support a Black American first. I've always wanted the best for Terence Crawford -- always," Mayweather said in an interview with FightHype. "We [have spoken] on numerous occasions. We have each other's phone numbers. Hopefully, everything plays out like it should, and of course, I would love to sign Terence Crawford. I talked about getting Terence Crawford the fights that he wants.

“You see so many young fighters now starting their own promotion company. You have to be able to give fighters [$1 million and up to $6 million] in advance before you get a promotional company. I'm not talking about Terence Crawford, but fighters in general. If you're not able to do that, and be a major promoter right now, then we should wait on that. That's what I think. Everything has a time and a place. But I think every fighter should have a dream of being a promoter. Promoting is a rough job. You can look at me for instance. I wanted to be a promoter to help fighters, but the more I help them, the more they hate me. That comes with the territory. That comes with the sport. It is what it is.

"I want to put fighters in a position to get the lion's share. Before Floyd Mayweather became a promoter in the sport, the promoters were getting the lion's share and getting more money than the fighters. I changed fighters getting crazy money.”