Top Rank head honcho, Bob Arum, was on the Top Rank podcast with host Crystina Poncher to discuss the state of boxing and upcoming match ups his promotional team could put on should the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic clear up.
Much of the talk revolved around Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder’s third fight. The heavyweight titans fought in an action packed rematch on February 22, 2020 in Las Vegas right before the the Coronavirus shutdown in March.
Fury who is promoted by Arum stopped the undefeated knockout puncher Wilder and took his WBC heavyweight belt.
Wilder exercised his rematch clause and will not step aside.
Another hot topic discussed was Top Rank’s top welterweight, undefeated American WBO champion Terence “Bud” Crawford and Arum who has been vocal about his former fighter Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao being scared to face Crawford because he knows he doesn’t have a shot against the younger champion, claims Pacquiao and his people have reached out to him about facing Crawford.
“Pacquiao and his people have reached out to me about the possibility of a Crawford fight,” said Arum. “We were hopefully thinking about scheduling that fight outside of the United States. We’ll have to see, but it is certainly a very interesting fight and once this clears up, I think we have a way where it can happen.”
If Pacquiao is serious about facing Crawford, it could be the warrior in him not happy with Arum’s comments suggesting that he was avoiding Crawford. Those comments of doubt could ignite a flame inside the Filipino southpaw to prove the doubters wrong.
Pacquiao is widely known in the boxing world as one of the most fearsome warriors in the ring. He has fought all the baddest guys toe to toe, many bigger and stronger, so talk about him being scared to face a fighter surely rubs boxing’s only 8-division world champion the wrong way.
In his most recent fight Pacquiao at the age of 40, beat up undefeated American WBA champion Keith “One Time” Thurman, who was considered one of the hardest punchers in the division, to become the oldest fighter in history to hold a welterweight title.
Should Crawford and Pacquiao meet up it would be a huge Pay-Per-View attraction and title unification for the sport of boxing.
