Bob Arum says he’s got a way to make the Manny Pacquiao vs. Terence Crawford fight happen when the sport starts back up. Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 K.O.s) is interested enough in facing WBO welterweight champion Crawford that he’s reached out to Arum, or at least that’s what the Top Rank promoter is saying.
If Arum can put a fight between Pacquiao and Crawford together, it would almost surely take place outside of the United States in Saudi Arabia or Dubai. They would need a considerable site fee because putting the fight in the U.S. might not sell tickets if they stage the match immediately after the pandemic ends or while it’s still going on.
Those countries would likely be interested in staging Pacquiao’s fight no matter who he’s fighting. Unless they get a colossal site fee, it’s almost impossible to imagine the fight selling on pay-per-view in the United States if Arum elects to try to sell the fight during the pandemic or immediately after. It’s a horrible idea to try and peddle Pacquiao-Crawford on PPV while people are jobless.
“Pacquiao and his people have reached out to me about the possibility of a Crawford fight,” said Arum to Top Rank Boxing. “We were hopefully thinking about scheduling that fight outside of the United States. We’ll have to see. But it’s certainly an exciting fight. Once this clears up, I think we have a way where it can happen.”
It’s hard to imagine Pacquiao taking the fight with Crawford because he’s not popular and can’t sell tickets. Crawford has fought on pay-per-view twice in his career, and both types it did poor numbers. As I was saying, the only way that Pacquiao vs. Crawford makes sense is if a foreign country pays a significant site fee to stage the match.
If they’re willing to go that, then Pacquiao would be better off picking someone like Mikey Garcia. At least in choosing Mikey, he’ll be able to get the U.S. fans willing to watch it.
With Errol Spence’s status still unknown following his car accident, Pacquiao needs a fairly big name for him to make the kind of big money that he’s grown accustomed to getting during his career.
Crawford, 32, would be getting his first big payday if Arum can put this fight together. Terence has been a professional for 12 years, and this would be the first time that he fought in a mega-fight. It’s hard to believe Arum has never been able to put him in with a famous fighter before.
Pacquiao taking on Crawford at this point in his career, would be a risky situation for the Filipino star. Although Pacquiao would probably be at least risk fighting Crawford than the bigger and stronger Spence, it would still be a dangerous fight nonetheless. Crawford is a counter puncher, and Pacquiao has always had problems against those type of fighters.
You can’t entirely rule out an upset victory for Pacquiao because Crawford has never been tested as a pro. It wouldn’t be a shock if Pacquiao beat Crawford, given his weak resume.
