Boxing promoter Bob Arum has cast serious doubts over whether Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao will ever fight again, let alone take up his rematch with Brisbane welterweight champion Jeff Horn.
Instead, Arum is eyeing a match between Horn and the world?s best pound-for-pound fighter, Terence Crawford, early next year.
Horn is yet to confirm his next fight but all indications are that he will meet Englishman Gary Corcoran in Brisbane possibly on December 15. Win that and he will fight again in March next year, possibly against Pacquiao but more likely against the devastating Crawford, an American with 32 wins from 32 fights.
Crawford is the undisputed king of the junior welterweight division, having unified all the belts when he beat Julius Indongo earlier this year.
However, he is likely to move up to the welterweight division, where he and Arum are working towards a shot at Horn?s WBO crown.
Such a fight could open up new and lucrative doors for Horn in the US.
Crawford would represent a monstrous challenge for the likeable Queenslander.
Like Pacquiao, Crawford is regarded as one of the best fighters in the sport.
Pacquiao was 38 when he faced Horn but Crawford is only 30 and in the prime of his fighting career. Pacquiao?s legendary trainer Freddie Roach recently declared Crawford the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
So, too, did the Boxing Writers Association of America, a congregation of journalists who only this week deemed Crawford the best in the business ahead of another Arum fighter, Vasyl Lomachenko.
WBO junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford is on Jeff Horn?s radar.
It shapes as a difficult assignment for Horn, albeit one that has the potential to turn him into a massive name in the sport should he beat Corcoran and then Crawford.
Asked whether Horn was ready to take on a fighter of Crawford?s ilk, Top Rank boss Arum said: ?He has to be. The WBO is going to make him fight a mandatory fight.
?It?s either going to be a rematch with Pacquiao or Crawford.
?My gut feeling from talking to him (Pacquiao) is that I just think ? I don?t know, he hasn?t told me yet, he hasn?t really decided ? but my guess is he is going to call it a day.
?It is just a guess.?
As for Corcoran, the 26-year-old Englishman has won 17 of his 18 fights, although only one by knockout. Horn?s promoter Dean Lonergan was reluctant to confirm the Corcoran fight as venues and dates are still being negotiated but the Englishman went some way towards removing doubt over the fight going ahead when he posted a story on social media talking about his impending clash with Horn. Lonergan said: ?Bob has great insight into what is going on so who am I to say anything different.?
Corcoran has won two consecutive fights since suffering his only loss, an 11th-round knockout defeat to Liam Williams in July last year. It is understood his all-action style secured him the bout with Horn.
The stakes are high for the Australian as he contemplates big-money fights against the best fighters in the world.
Arum is already looking beyond Corcoran as he plans for Crawford to beat Horn, having told website www.badlefthook.com that he would look to secure Crawford fights against the biggest names in the welterweight division.
?Terence Crawford, after he fights Horn, hopefully wins that fight, we?re gonna look for guys like Keith Thurman, and maybe Danny Garcia,? Arum said.
?And ultimately I think there?s gonna be a big, big fight in a year from now, or maybe 18 months with Terence and Errol Spence; I think Spence is a terrific, terrific fighter and he and Crawford could make a major, major match down the road.?
Horn can scupper those plans by pulling off another massive upset, although first he must take care of business against Corcoran.
?Everyone thought Manny Pacquiao was going to beat Jeff Horn,? Lonergan said.
?That wasn?t the case.?
