Who’s really afraid of Terence Crawford?

Just to clear the air, I never asked for $7 million to fight Manny Pacquiao,” declared Terence Crawford, unbeaten WBO world light welterweight champion.

In a frantic twist of events, Crawford (30-0, 21 KOs) is out of the picture, with Manny Pacquiao tabled to fight an unbeaten but obscure opponent in Australia next April.

The puzzling emergence of the wholly unknown Jeff Horn as the worthiest opponent for Pacquiao was a dizzying development that has left the boxing community wondering who really was afraid of Crawford.

There’s also the damning possibility that Crawford may not get a crack at Pacquiao this year.

For starters, Bob Arum declared out of nowhere that Pacquiao’s next fight would be held outside of the United States.

Then, after announcing negotiations for a Pacquiao-Horn bout in Australia in April, Arum said Crawford’s next bout will be held next May.

There were still those hoping Crawford would get his much-deserved bout against Pacquiao later this year; until Arum announced plans to project the 38-year-old Pacquiao as a global fighter, citing Russia, Britain and the Middle East as future itinerary.

This, naturally, was taken as a clear sign Arum was trying to put Pacquiao out of Crawford’s ferocious reach.

For the record, Team Pacquiao avoided a direct confrontation with Crawford at least twice last year.

As a result, Pacquiao ended up clashing with Timothy Bradley Jr., his favorite whipping boy, before beating the inferior Jessie Vargas to reclaim his WBO welterweight crown.

Now, it’s being asked whether it’s fear or awe (of Crawford) that has caused Team Pacquiao to avoid him like the plague.

Actually, it was trainer Freddie Roach who earlier stated that they have no choice but say yes to a Crawford fight, no matter how tough and perilous.

But Roach also cluttered up the scene when he claimed that Crawford had asked for a $7-million purse to fight Pacquiao.

Declared Crawford: “There was no conversation of even fighting Pacquiao. He asked for $20 million, so who priced they self (sic) out?”