Chavez Jr. picks Pacquiao to KO Terence Crawford

By Rob Smith - 06/14/2015 - Comments

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum recently said this past week that if he can’t get a rematch between his fighter Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. next year, Arum will look to match Pacquiao up against Terence Crawford, the WBO light welterweight title holder. Arum promotes both fighters, so it would be an in house fight for him and easy to make.

While some fans think Crawford would be a dangerous opponent for the 36-year-old Pacquiao, former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. believes Pacquiao would have no problems beating the slender Crawford. Chavez Jr. thinks Pacquiao would KO Crawford.

When asked by esnewsreporting.com if Pacquiao would beat Crawford, Chavez Jr. said “Yes, by knockout.”

A lot of fans believe that Crawford could do to Pacquiao the same things that Mayweather did in beating him by a 12 round decision last May. What Mayweather was able to do was nail Pacquiao hard with shots as he was coming in trying to attack. After a while, Pacquiao stopped attacking Mayweather, and became passive and manageable. If Crawford were able to do the same thing against Pacquiao as Mayweather did, we could see Pacquiao get beaten again.

It’s not a fight that benefits Pacquiao in facing Crawford. I don’t think Arum would make a Pacquiao-Crawford fight if he didn’t see Pacquiao as being at the end of his career, because there’s too much for Pacquiao to lose and little to gain in fighting a guy like Crawford. If Pacquiao beats Crawford, no one will really care other than the hardcore boxing fans. The casual fans don’t have clue one who Crawford is so they won’t care. But if Pacquiao loses to Crawford, then his career is pretty much over as a PPV fighter.

The only guys that gain in a fight between Pacquiao and Crawford is Arum and Crawford. Arum gains because Crawford is going to be with him in his stable for many years. By fighting Pacquiao, Crawford will become more popular and could eventually become a big PPV attraction. That obviously helps Arum in a big way because Crawford has at least 10 more years left in his career. It doesn’t help Pacquiao a bit to fight Crawford.

“I would rather him fight Terence Crawford,” Arum said to esnewsreporting when asked who he will be looking to match Pacquiao against next year if he can’t get the Mayweather fight.

As for Chavez Jr. (48-2-1, 32 KOs), he’ll be fighting Marcos Reyes (33-2, 24 KOs) on July 18th in a 10 round bout at the Don Haskins Convention Center, in El Paso, Texas, USA.