Terence Crawford is expected to have an opponent this week. And it won’t be a pushover.
Bob Arum, the welterweight champion’s longtime promoter, said he will announce his star’s next bout and other details in the next several days. The fight will be on pay-per-view.
Crawford is expected to face either fellow titleholder Manny Pacquiao or former beltholder Shawn Porter.
“There’s going to be an official announcement within the week on Bud Crawford’s next fight,” Arum told Barbershop Conversations over the weekend. “I can’t reveal it now, but it will be a major fight.
“It will be an official announcement of a major pay-per-view event — date, venue, everything. I’m not at liberty to discuss it at this time, but it’s a big deal, and not just any old fight.”
The 42-year-old Pacquiao is his first choice because of the money involved but either opponent would satisfy fans dying to see Crawford in a truly big fight.
“It would be a big opportunity for Terence Crawford to fight Manny Pacquiao,” Arum told Boxing Social recently. “If that doesn’t come to fruition, then I will continue my talks with Shawn Porter and hope to do Terence against Shawn Porter.
“Either of them in my opinion are interesting fights.”
Indeed. Either of those fights would be the biggest of Crawford’s career.
The 33-year-old Nebraskan has won major titles in three divisions and climbed to the top of pound-for-pound lists – he’s ranked No. 1 by Boxing Junkie – but he has no defining victories on his resume.
Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) is coming off a fourth-round knockout of another former titleholder, Kell Brook, on Nov. 14.
Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) hasn’t fought since he outpointed Keith Thurman to win a portion of the 147-pound championship in July 2019. The Filipino senator’s focus has been on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and other duties over the past year.
Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs) is a two-time welterweight titleholder, most recently losing his belt to Errol Spence Jr. by a split decision in September 2019. He rebounded by shutting out Sebastian Formella last August.
A victory over either Pacquiao or Porter could lead to a much-anticipated showdown with Spence.
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