According to Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, Manny Pacquiao won’t be naming his next opponent tonight after all. Pacquiao, 36, was supposed to name his next fight on April 9th on the 84-year-old Arum’s truTV fight card tonight in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Arum had two of his Top Rank fighters Tim Bradley and Terence Crawford scheduled to be there, and it was a dead cinch that Pacquiao was going to make his old promoter a very, very happy man by naming one of those guys as his next opponent. But unfortunately for Arum, Pacquiao won’t be naming his next opponent as of yet.
Top Rank spokesperson Fred Sternburg told ESPN.com “I was asked to tell you on Bob’s behalf that, unfortunately, Top Rank will not have an announcement on truTV as originally planned as Manny is not ready to make a decision on his opponent yet.”
Arum previously said that Pacquiao would be naming his next opponent on the truTV card on Friday night. Now some boxing fans are thinking that Arum did that in order to attract interest in the card from the fans, because it’s really not that great of a card unless you like mismatches and that’s what I see in the card.
Top Rank favorite Nonito Donaire will be fighting for the vacant WBO super bantamweight title against Cesar Juarez, and lightweight Félix Verdejo will be facing Josenilson Dos Santos. I’m going to go out on a limb here by saying the A-side Top Rank fighters Donaire and Verdejo are both going to win by easy knockouts in one-sided fights. I hope my prediction didn’t spoil it for the boxing fans who were thinking of seeing the fights.
Pacquiao would be waiting on Floyd Mayweather Jr. to come out of retirement to fight him a second time, or Pacquiao could be waiting for a more convenient time to pick from Crawford or Bradley. My guess is Pacquiao will be selecting Crawford as his next opponent. I’d be very surprised if that’s not who Pacquiao fights. But he made a good decision by not naming one of those guys tonight because it would have put Crawford or Bradley in a bad position because they’re going to be at the truTV card in San Juan, Puerto Rico. No matter who Pacquiao selected, it would have been a bad deal for the Top Rank fighter that didn’t get the fight with him. That’s why it was a terrible idea for Pacquiao to make the selection tonight because it would have led potentially to some bad blood for the guy that didn’t get selected.
Earlier this week, it was rumored that Pacquiao would be selecting Bradley as his April 9th opponent. I think that was an unfounded rumor, because I don’t see Bradley getting the fight. I think it’s Crawford all the way. I just can’t see Pacquiao naming anyone other than Crawford unless Mayweather comes out of retirement to fight Pacquiao a second time. I don’t think that’s going to happen though. That’s why I see it as Crawford all the way in getting the fight with Pacquiao. He’ll be Arum’s No.1 guy after Pacquiao retires, so I see it as extremely important that to Arum and Top Rank that he gets the fight. I don’t believe it will turn Crawford into a star if he faces Pacquiao and beats him, but it’ll at least put him at the level of maybe Bradley or Brandon Rios in terms of popularity.