MANILA, Philippines ? Terence Crawford made sure he looked good inside the ring yesterday and expressed his readiness to take on Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao anytime next year.
Crawford, the pride of Omaha, Nebraska, stretched his unbeaten record to 30-0 with 21 knockouts by stopping his overweight challenger John Molina in the eighth round before a hometown crowd.
The 29-year-old Crawford, a future superstar, retained his WBO and WBC junior-welterweight titles.
?We?re ready to fight anybody,? said Crawford after the victory.
Anybody, of course, includes Pacquiao, who regained the WBO welterweight crown following a 12-round boxing clinic against Mexican-American Jessie Vargas last month in Las Vegas.
?Yeah, I?d like to fight him,? said Crawford of Pacquiao, who said he?s willing to go down to 140 to face Crawford. Sportshub ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
Crawford has been in Pacquiao?s radar for quite some time now, and was even considered for the Filipino senator?s comeback fight last month following a short-lived retirement.
But Pacquiao chose Vargas.
The fight against Vargas drew very little attention but managed to bring in the crowd that almost packed the Thomas & Mack Center. Nearly 16,000 came to the fight.
However, it didn?t earn the numbers promoter Bob Arum had anticipated. But he said he was still happy with 300,000 buys.
A fight with Crawford can guarantee bigger numbers.
Pacquiao is looking at other possible foes and said he can return to the ring anytime between March and May because of a long break in the Senate.
Among those being mentioned are Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, Adrien Broner or even 135-pound king Vasyl Lomachenko.
Then there?s the possibility of a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
?I can fight anybody,? said Pacquiao.
?Basta ?wag lang sabay-sabay (But not all at the same time),? he said.
