Pacquiao vs. Crawford

By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao will be meeting with his Top Rank promoter Bob Arum this week for the two to decide between Terence Crawford and Jessie Vargas for Pacquiao’s next fight on November 5. It’s believed by some boxing fans that Pacquiao will decide on whoever his 84-year-old promoter Bob Arum wants him to fight. In that case, if Arum wants Pacquiao to fight Crawford next, then we’ll see the two of them go at it on November 5th on HBO pay-per-view. If that’s the fight that happens, I cannot see it doing well in terms of PPV buys. It’s the wrong timing for the fight with it coming directly after a very boring fight between Crawford and Vitkor Postol. Arum should wait until Crawford beats someone recognizable to casual boxing fans and he puts in an exciting performance.

Manny Pacquiao’s new senate job in the Philippines means that his next training camp will likely be less than the full eight weeks that he normally uses to get prepared for his fight.

By Dan Ambrose: Manny Pacquiao was supposedly going to be fighting for a world title in his next fight against World Boxing Association welterweight champion Jessie Vargas on November 5. At least this is what Pacquiao’s personal adviser Michael Koncz said this week. He said the decision had already been made about Pacquiao’s next opponent with the 27-year-ol Vargas being the guy he would be facing.

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum now says that nothing has been decided about the Filipino star’s next fight, and that he’ll be flying over to the Philippines on August 9 to talk with him about picking between his Top Rank candidates Terence Crawford and Vargas.

With the way that Arum is talking, he has some boxing fans thinking that he wants Pacquiao to fight Crawford next rather than Vargas. Just why Arum would care either way is unclear, because he promotes Vargas and Crawford. It shouldn’t matter to Arum which of the two gets the fight as long as one of them does because they’re both in his Top Rank stable.

By Leigh K. Seto: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has been one of the single most influential figures in Boxing for decades. He has had run-ins inside and outside of ring. He has helped shaped the careers of many Legends in the ring Muhammad Ali, Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao to name a few. He has made himself and his fighters very rich along the way. He graduated from Harvard Law and was hired by then President Kennedy to join his legal staff. Needless to say, Bob is a pretty smart guy.

Bob orchestrates the soap opera of boxing like a brilliant puppet master, choosing the right fights to keep his top fighters winning or matching his top fighters against each other so he wins either way. It’s not always popular, but its good business. The Manny Pacquiao vs. Terence Crawford fight has a similar story line to the not so distant past.

By Jeff Aranow: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says he’ll be discussing later the fight between WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford and Manny Pacquiao. Arum wants to make that fight a reality, and he reportedly has already discussed it with Manny and he’s on board with it. Crawford needed to get a win last Saturday night over Viktor Postol to put him in the Pacquiao fight, and he did his part in defeating the Ukrainian fighter by a 12 round unanimous decision on HBO pay-per-view at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It wasn’t the most thrilling fight to watch from a fan’s perspective, but Crawford did win. It didn’t matter if he looked good or not. All Crawford had to do was win the fight in order to get the Pacquiao fight, and he did that. Arum wants the Pacquiao-Crawford fight because he promotes both guys.

By Chris Williams: With Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs)) deciding not to reveal who his next opponent is tonight, as his promoter Bob Arum had previously said he would reveal, there’s talk that Pacquiao will be facing WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford (27-0, 19 KOs) next rather than WBO 147lb champion Tim Bradley.

There were reports that Pacquiao had made up his mind that he was going to be fighting Bradley in a third fight on April 9th next year at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. After that fight, Pacquiao would then retire from the sport to focus on politics in the Philippines.

By Chris Williams: It goes without saying that former eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) would be doing his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank a huge, huge favor if he elects to fight his stable fighter Terence Crawford (27-0, 19 KOs) for his Pacquiao’s final fight of his career on April 9th in 2016.

Instead of Pacquiao going for a bigger money fight that would help his own pocketbook in retirement, he could help out his 83-year-old promoter Arum by taking what would likely be the smaller money fight against Crawford. I know what the average person would do if they were in a similar situation and had the option of making more money by fighting someone like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or Amir Khan rather than taking what would likely mean lesser money by fighting Crawford.

By Dan Ambrose: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum wants the proposed April 9th fight between his money fighter Manny Pacquiao and WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford to take place at 140lbs for Crawford’s WBO title, according to Philboxing.com.

140 is an easy weight for Pacquiao to make because he rehydrates to 144 for his fights. He’s already right there in proximity of 140 without him having to take a lot of weight off. Crawford is going to have a weight advantage over Pacquiao anyway.