NOT even Manny Pacquiao wants to fight Terence Crawford.
That is how feared the man Jeff Horn has chosen to fight next is.
Horn?s bravery and ambition must be applauded; he?s beaten an all-time legend and will take on the sport?s very best within 12 months.
But in the wacky world of boxing, Pacquiao will still exert great influence on Horn?s career despite losing to him in Brisbane last July.
This is because the Filipino senator still draws more pay-per-viewers than Horn or Crawford, and it?s all about the bottom line.
Horn?s fight against Crawford has been set for April 15 at New York?s Madison Square Garden, and this will be a huge event in Australian boxing history.
Neither man has tasted defeat in the ring. It will be a big fight in the Big Apple.
Top Rank, who co-promote Horn and have contracts over Crawford and Pacquiao, are now trying to get Pacman to join the same card.
Pacquiao would headline the event, with the WBO World welterweight title fight between Horn and Crawford as a co-main feature.
This is to use Pacquiao?s draw as a pay-per-view star to lure more paying customers, and use it as the ideal promotional platform for the fight between Pacquiao and the winner of Horn-Crawford later this year.
It?s a good plan. However, Pacquiao is not overly interested.
He has already expressed hesitation in appearing on the same card, believing his name will simply be used to build up those of his two rivals. A sticking point has been the split between Top Rank and Manny Pacquiao Promotions if he is to appear on the card.
The second issue is that Pacquiao, while never having ducked anyone in his glorious career, would rather fight the smaller Vasyl Lomachenko than Crawford.
Pacquiao?s trainer Freddie Roach made this sentiment public yesterday.
?I love the Lomachenko fight,? Roach told the BoxingScene website. ?I like that better because I?ve been hearing so much about Terence Crawford lately. And Terence might be a little bit too young and a little bit too big at this point.
?But the other way [Lomachenko], I like that fight for Manny. All we need is one tune-up fight, and we?ll go into [the Lomachenko] fight, no problem.?
Crawford – too young and too big for 39-year-old Pacquiao.
That is quite an astonishing acknowledgment from his own camp, but nonetheless reasonable.
Crawford, 30, is clearly among the best three fighters in any weight category in boxing right now.
You can split hairs between who is the sport?s pound-for-pound king between Crawford, Lomachenko, and Gennady Golovkin.
While Crawford (32-0, 23KO) is moving up from light welterweight to welterweight, having cleaned out the smaller division, Lomachenko (10-1, 8KO) is three divisions below at super featherweight.
Lomachenko?s camp has already dismissed the idea of a fight against Pacquiao, but given the Ukrainian is also promoted by Top Rank, this fight could be made, as sizeable the gap is between the two men.
So if Pacquiao is not keen on Crawford, it is not in his interest to appear on the April 15 card unless he gets a big split in revenue from Top Rank.
Horn will not have many backers outside his own camp to topple Crawford, who Top Rank believe can be heir apparent to Pacquiao as their big pay-per-view drawcard.
The ideal scenario from that sense is for Crawford to defeat Horn and take his belt, then fight Pacquiao later this year and with victory there, cement his spot as boxing?s biggest star and allow Top Rank to move forward with major cards featuring the American as their pin-up.
Again, Pacquiao will be resistant to this.
