By Chris Williams: Bob Arum says he’s working on trying to put together a fight between welterweight champions Manny Pacquiao and Terence Crawford for June or July in a unification, according to @TalkBOX. Arum says if he can’t put together the Pacquiao-Crawford fight, then he’ll look to set-up a fight between former IBF 147-lb champion Kell Brook and Crawford.
Brook has made it clear that he’s wanted to face Crawford for over a year, and it now looks like he may finally get his wish. This is potentially risky for Crawford because Brook can punch.
The Top Rank Boxing boss Arum has a lot of competition in trying to get Pacquiao for Crawford. Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn is interested in setting up a fight between the Mikey Garcia vs. Jessie Vargas winner and Pacquiao for July in Saudi.
In addition to this, Pacquiao has possible fights against PBC welterweights like Danny Garcia and Errol Spence Jr. Pacquiao also has an outside chance of getting a fight against UFC star Conor McGregor. The Irish fighter is hoping to face Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a rematch, but if they’re unable to make that fight, then Pacquiao would likely be his plan-B options.
Arum has got to do something to find a quality opponent for Crawford, as he’s NEVER fought a named guy during his 12-year career. The closest Crawford has come to fighting a popular opponent was his match against Amir Khan last year in April on ESPN PPV, and it didn’t bring in big numbers.
Arum wants Pacquiao or Brook for Crawford’s next fight
“We’re working on Terence’s fight in June at the beginning of July. There are a couple of options for Terence,” said Arum to Talkbox. “We’re exploring a Pacquiao fight, and if that can’t happen, we’re exploring a fight against Kell Brook.”
You can argue that Brook, 33, is a step down in competition for Crawford from his last opponent Egidijus Kavaliauskas, who he stopped in the 9th round on December 14 in New York. Kavaliauskas knocked Crawford down in round 5, but the referee Ricky Gonzalez blew the call by ruling it as a slip.
Crawford is starting to slip a little. He’s still a good fighter, but he’s clearly getting older now. A guy like Kavaliauskas wouldn’t have been able to drop Crawford like that 5 years ago.
Brook (39-2, 27 KOs) hasn’t done much with his career since losing to Errol Spence Jr. by an 11th round knockout in 2017. Crawford vs. Brook would have made sense back in 2017 before Spence shattered the British fighter’s orbital bone, but it’s not a great fight now in 2020.
Kell’s career has gone downhill since 2016
Brook has steered his career into the ground by taking nothing an endless string of tune-ups and fighting infrequently. Maybe Arum hasn’t been keeping up with things, because this isn’t 2017 anymore. Gennadiy Golovkin and Spence both stopped Brook and broke his eye sockets.
Earlier this month, Brook emerged from a 14-month layoff to defeat junior middleweight contender Mark DeLuca (24-2, 13 KOs) by a 7th round knockout in Sheffield, England.
It’s HIGHLY unlikely Arum will be able to set-up a fight between Crawford and Pacquiao for June or July, but you can’t blame him for name-dropping the Filipino star’s name.
By name dropping Pacquiao’s name, Arum makes it clear that he’s at least trying to get popular fighters to cross the pond to face Crawford on ESPN. Pacquiao, 41, has never shown interest in fighting Crawford and has many big-money options available.
If Crawford were willing to take some chances with his career, he could get some excellent fights at 154. By moving up in weight, Crawford could face Jermell Charlo, Erislandy Lara, Jeison Rosario or Julian Williams.