Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Pacquiao-Crawford would be ‘very bad fight for Manny,’ Arum says

Pacquiao, De La Hoya Make Arrivals

Steve Marcus

Boxing promoter Bob Arum, left, and Manny Pacquiao pose as Pacquiao makes his official “arrival” at the Mandalay Bay on Tuesday December 2, 2008. Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya will meet for a 12-round welterweight fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday.

Veteran promoter and Top Rank boss Bob Arum said that he would not recommend Manny Pacquiao to fight newly crowned World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Terence Crawford.

Crawford beat Australian Jeff Horn in Las Vegas on Sunday. The latter beat Pacquiao via a controversial unanimous decision last year.

"I don't think Manny wants to fight Crawford and I think it will be a very bad fight for Manny. I don't think Manny could compete against Crawford at this time in his career," Arum told The Manila Times through an overseas call.

"Well if he wants to do it, I will make it happen but I would tell him not to," he added.

Reports floated last year that Arum was planning to pit Pacquiao against the winner of the Horn vs. Crawford fight.

Arum hinted that Pacquiao's age would be a liability.

"Manny is an athlete and he is an adult. He can decide on what he wants. If he comes to me and says I think I know how to beat him (Crawford) and I want to fight him, I will do the fight. But if he asks me for recommendations, I would strongly suggest against it," Arum added.

"Crawford showed that he is the great fighter he was. He dominated Horn and knocked him out. Horn was very brave but Crawford is a very special fighter and exceptional."

Meanwhile, Pacquiao's childhood pal and trainer Buboy Fernandez said that he has foreseen Crawford's technical knockout win over Horn.

"That victory is expected to happen. After the fourth and fifth round, I know Crawford will go full blast and run him over," said Fernandez in Filipino. Fernandez is handling Pacquiao's preparation in General Santos City for his upcoming title bout against World Boxing Association welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse on July 15 at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Fernandez refused to comment on the possibility of a Pacquiao-Crawford bout, "We don't want to think about it for now."