By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum thinks that WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford (28-0, 20 KOs) could emerge as a pay-per-view star if he beats WBC 140lb champion Victor Postol (28-0, 12 KOs) in their unification fight this month on July 23 on HBO pay-per-view at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Arum wants to help hurry that pace of Crawford becoming a PPV star by matching him immediately with his fighter former eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao on October 29 or November 5. Arum is hoping that Crawford can get the fight against Pacquiao. However, supposedly the decision is up to Pacquiao for the final say so in who he’ll be fighting.
Arum says that WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia and WBO 147lb champion Jessie Vargas are also in the mix for the Pacquiao fight. Arum promotes Vargas, so that means that there’s a very good chance that Pacquiao will be fighting one of Arum’s Top Rank stable fighters next unless he decides he wants nothing to do with any of those fighters.
“If he beats Postol, and that fight is doing very, very well. I think it’ll do well on pay-per-view,” said Arum to fighthype.com about the Crawford vs. Postol fight scheduled for July 23. “It’s doing well at the gate. One thing usually follows another, and if Crawford comes through, I think he’ll become in the future someone at least once a year who will headline his own pay-per-view card. First, the guy has to have a lot of ability. Secondly, he has to have charisma in the ring so that people are really interested in watching him. Thirdly, he’s got to be able to communicate outside the ring to the people to get them willing to pay money to watch him on pay-per-view. It’s a very, very hard thing to do. When you look, there hasn’t been many fighters in any era that have been able to accomplish it,” said Arum.
I think Arum kidding himself if he thinks that Crawford is going to be a PPV star. It takes a special type of talent and a special type of fighter with a fan base willing to pay to see them fight. IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin isn’t a pay-per-view star, and he arguably has a much more entertaining style of fighting than Crawford does. If Golovkin isn’t a PPV star, then I don’t see Crawford leapfrogging over him to become a star just because he beats Postol or because he’s the opponent for Pacquiao.
Tim Bradley has fought Pacquiao three times and he’s not a PPV attraction. Juan Manuel Marquez fought Pacquiao four times, and he’s not a PPV star. I don’t think Crawford has the kind of fighting style that would make him a PPV star. Outside of the ring, Crawford comes across as quiet, insular and not nearly as outgoing as past PPV fighters like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya. Pacquiao became a PPV star due to his exciting style of fighting. When he was younger, Pacquiao used to knockout everyone he faced. The knockouts dried up in 2009, and I think Pacquiao’s popularity has been hurt because of that.
When asked if the winner of the Crawford vs. Postol fight could be the next opponent for Manny Pacquiao’s next fight, Arum’s eyes lit up and he said, “Yeah, absolutely! Manny is looking to come back either October 29 or November 5, and we haven’t selected an opponent yet. Certainly the winner of this fight on July 23 would be a hot candidate,” said Arum.