Trainer Freddie Roach believes a possible reason why the unbeaten Terence Crawford (27-0, 18 KOs) wasn’t put in with Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) for his next fight because Top Rank promoter Bob Arum might have wanted to protect the 28-year-old Crawford from being pushed into such a tough fight at an early point in his career.
Instead of Pacquiao fighting Crawford, which was a fight that a fair amount of fans wanted to see, Arum selected Tim Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs) for a third fight against the Filipino star. Pacquiao and Bradley will now be facing each other on April 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.