When Terence Crawford pummeled Viktor Postol last weekend to add the WBC Junior Welterweight title to his war chest, it was very clear on who Crawford should face next. Crawford, the emerging face of the sport, is primed and ready for a showdown with Manny Pacquiao in a match that would pit the champion of era?s past against the present.
Despite all the desire to want this fight to happen, it?s ultimately up to Pacquiao to determine who he?ll be facing when he makes his predictable return to the ring this Fall after retiring earlier this year after defeating Timothy Bradley in their third bout. A bout with Crawford would pit Pacquiao against a dangerous foe in his prime that has the tools and knowledge to give him hell on his best night.
The task would have been the kind of fight Pacquiao?s handlers would have steered clear of in his younger years, opting instead for a simpler challenge versus a less-complex foe. At 37 years of age, Pacquiao facing Crawford would be the riskiest fight available and one where, at least financially, he stands very little overall to gain.
Because of that, it should be treated as the only option for the future Hall of Famer.
Pacquiao can just as easily accept a fight with fellow stable mate and WBO Welterweight champion Jessie Vargas, beat him and take his title while presumably riding off into the sunset as champion until he gets the itch to fight again. Very few people thought that Vargas stood a chance against Kell Brook in their aborted fight, and even less will think he has one against this aged version of Pacquiao.
Pacquiao/Vargas would end with the Welterweight division in another black hole as Pacquiao would hold another title hostage and fighting with indecision about whether or not he should defend it. Not to mention that this scenario would again involve Pacquiao trying to scalp the unworthy and continuing the low-risk/high-reward dynamic he?s followed through the last seven or so years as boxing?s biggest money maker.
Pacquiao/Crawford could give the sport a definitive end to that practice.
Sugar Ray Leonard, Muhammad Ali and even Oscar De La Hoya made tons of money facing off against the ho-hum fighters of the world, making money purely off of name recognition, but big paydays and the glory that came with them only came when they took the biggest risk they could find. Pacquiao, and Floyd Mayweather to a much bigger degree, ignored that dynamic and waited until the very end of their careers to finally fight each other.
Mayweather retired shortly after beating Pacquiao and shows no intention of coming back, but Pacquiao is given the chance to prove himself against Crawford that will either re-affirm his greatness or indicate Crawford?s own. Should Crawford win in that fight, it would be a passing of the torch moment that would crown Crawford as the sport?s top dog by proxy, and it would be done at a point of his career where there could still be greater things yet to come.
It would be foolish for Crawford?s camp to play hardball if Pacquiao?s team is seriously considering them as a Fall opponent, even if they feel like they were strung along the last time Pacquiao wanted to make his return to the ring. There are plenty of emerging lions in the wake of the decline of Pacquiao and Mayweather, but this is the chance for one of them to call themselves king the old fashion way and not relying on easy-to-influence media members and fans.
Pacquiao has earned the right to face whoever he wants in his storied career and still retains the right to do so until he?s physically unfit to fight, but there is no good reason why it should not be Crawford and no good reason why it can?t be next.
