Terence Crawford doesn?t think he will get a crack at fighting Manny Pacquiao despite showing interest in the bout. The 40-year-old Pacquiao became the oldest WBA welterweight champion by turning back the clock to beat Keith Thurman in a split decision in Las Vegas last month.
But the unbeaten Crawford (35-0, 26 KOs) thinks Pacquiao is more concerned with ?chasing the [Floyd] Mayweather fight? than facing him. ?I wouldn?t say so,? Crawford said on Joe Rogan?s YouTube podcast when asked if the fight is possible. ?Because I was being mentioned to fight Pacquiao since 2014 and we were in the same promotional company, they couldn?t make it happen.
?I don?t think he was interested because his coach [Freddie Roach] mentioned numerous times he didn?t want him to fight me, and he wanted him to stay away from me.?
Crawford said he was disappointed Pacquiao did not beat Jeff Horn in July 2017, because he would have been in line to face the Filipino. Crawford outclassed the Australian in their June 2018 WBO welterweight title fight, scoring a ninth-round TKO.
?When I first watched it, listening to the commentary, I was like, ?Man, Pacquiao [is] whipping him [Horn], why are they cheating him? Because I wanted to fight Pacquiao because I was next in line to the champion. Of course I was rooting for Pacquiao to win because that?s a bigger fight,? Crawford said. ?But after watching the fight again, I was like they?re not saying nothing about all them shots Jeff Horn was hitting Pacquiao with. He was just brutally bullying him, roughing him up. They can say he was being dirty, sometimes with a headbutt, but it?s a fight. That?s gonna happen. ?But he was real life manhandling Pacquiao, pushing him all around. Keith Thurman couldn?t do that.?
Crawford praised Pacquiao?s performance against the previously unbeaten American Thurman, who is 10 years younger than the fighting senator. ?I take my hat off to Pacquiao,? he said. ?Both of them fought in spurts. I thought Keith was gonna pick up on it. ?But Pacquiao was only fighting the end of the round. Keith would come on strong at the beginning of the round.?
