MANILA – Will fans see a Manny Pacquiao versus the undefeated Terence Crawford showdown?
Well, if not of this coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the Top Rank Promotions could have already ironed the answer.
Top Rank chief executive Bob Arum said in an interview with Boxing Scene that there were “tentative talks” about putting Pacquiao and Crawford on a showdown before COVID-19 halted or postponed sporting events worldwide.
“I had feelers out before all of this happened with the coronavirus,” Arum said. “Had everything worked out, the bout would have taken place later in 2020. Then, of course, everything blew up.”
“But I am optimistic that I will be able to continue with these
talks in the next month or so,” the veteran boxing promoter added.
The 32-year-old Crawford (36-0-0, 27 KOs) currently holds the World Boxing Organization
welterweight championship. The 41-year-old Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs), on the
other hand, is the reigning World Boxing Association “super” welterweight
titleholder.
Arum is confident that both Pacquiao and Crawford want to exchange blows.
“It appears to me that Crawford and Pacquiao want to go ahead with that fight,” he said. “To make it happen, we will have to do it outside of the United States and outside of the Philippines, of course.”
“And we’d have to make it work with a site fee,” he added. “The world is different from what it was at the end of January and mid-February. We’ll have to see what it looks like when we get through this.”/PN
