By Chris Williams: WBO welterweight champion Jeff ‘The Hornet’ Horn (18-0-1, 12 KOs) will be fighting #1 WBO Terence Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) next in early 2018, according to their promoter Bob Arum. The Top Rank boss Arum says the Horn-Crawford fight is all set contractually, and he’ll be having a meeting with the other Top Rank executives this Thursday to plan the date for the fight, as well as the date for Manny Pacquiao’s next fight.
The news of Arum revealing that Horn vs. Crawford is contractually set kills the idea of Anthony Mundine taking on ‘The Hornet’ in his next fight. There’s been talk of Horn being interested in facing the 42-year-old Mundine for a big payday above what he could make fighting Crawford. If Horn is under contract to fight Crawford next, then it looks like Arum has him set to make that fight.
The former 8 division world champion Pacquiao is ranked No.2 by the World Boxing Organization. If Crawford defeats Horn, Pacquiao will be able to fight him for the title on ESPN pay-per-view. This is all predictable. Golden Boy Promotions marketed Miguel Cotto’s last fight against Sadam Ali as a retirement fight. It didn’t work. The fight failed to bring in large ratings
Arum is likely planning to have it all work out like a story:
• Crawford beats Horn for the WBO title in early 2018.
• Arum matches Crawford against Pacquiao on ESPN PPV, and markets the contest as Pacman’s last fight before retirement. The boxing fans that are sentimental will purchase the Crawford-Pacquiao fight for old time’s sake to see the Filipino star fight one more time before retirement.
• Pacquiao gets a final big payday for the Crawford fight
• Crawford is seen beating a huge star from the past, and is subsequently elevated into a pay-per-view star. I don’t think it’s going to work out like that. In the past fighters were turned into stars by beating up shot fighters and simple belt holders, but it doesn’t work that way anymore. Nowadays, you need to be seen putting your chin on the line by looking to score knockouts, and fighting in exciting contests against the best, not over-the-hill fighters, who left their prime behind 2,000 yesterday’s ago. Pacquiao was a good fighter up until 2011. It’s been downhill for Pacquiao since 2012. Crawford needs to follow in the Gennady Golovkin style to become a true star the hard way
“It’s all set, it’s contractual, Horn versus Terence Crawford,” Arum said to Badlefhook.com. “We have a meeting at my house, all the Top Rank executives, on Thursday, to lay out dates, prospective dates for Manny Pacquiao, who through adviser Michael Koncz said that he’s wanting to fight in April,” said Arum.
We’ll have to see if Horn goes through with the Crawford fight or not. If Horn vacates, he could take the fight with Mundine. It’ll be a laugh if Horn throws a monkey wrench into Arum’s plans by vacating his WBO welterweight title and then going in another direction with his next fight. Moreover, If Pacquiao turns up his nose at the idea of fighting Crawford too, then it leaves Arum with the horrible option of matching Crawford against Bradley Skeete for the vacant WBO 147 lb. belt.
Horn successfully defended his WBO welterweight title on December 13 in stopping Gary Corcoran in the 11th round in Brisbane, Australia. Last July, Horn defeated Pacquiao by a 12 round decision to win the WBO title in Brisbane. That was a contest that ended in a controversial outcome with Horn winning a fight that the boxing public disagreed with the outcome.