Crawford wants winner of Pacquiao-Horn 2

It was not an ultimatum, but early on Monday, there was an urgent statement from Brisbane asking Manny Pacquiao to confirm whether or not he’s honoring a rematch with WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn of Australia.

The Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Graham Quirk, said they would be holding the funding for the rematch if Pacquiao did not confirm he would return to Australia this year to box with Horn.

There was instant tension but before the end of day, Mayor Quirk was back to announce the rematch, which could happen in November, was on after he got firm commitment from promoters, headed by Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, that Pacquiao has formally agreed to fight Horn again.

Earlier last month, Arum himself had to advise Pacquiao he was giving him three weeks to say yes or no to the Horn rematch. Soon enough, Arum would say he had talked to Pacquiao, who gave his preferred dates for his second meeting with Horn. Horn scored a monumental upset in taking Pacquiao’s world welterweight belt at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on July 2.

Anyway, on Sunday, the sensational Terence Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) unified the world 140 lb (junior welterweight) belts by stopping Julius Indongo of Namibia in the third round.

Arum was at ringside in Omaha where he took time out to announce the plan to take Crawford to Australia later this year to watch the Pacquiao-Horn rematch. Arum said he would like Crawford to fight the winner of that big bout.

“Yes, I’m all for it,” Crawford was quoted by BoxingScene.com as saying.
It’s no secret Pacquiao had dodged Crawford, described by trainer Freddie Roach as strong and very dangerous, at least twice.

(ELVIS FROM TIGER CITY: Mandaluyong City councilor Louie Espinosa takes pride in announcing that the winner of the first Elvis Presley in Asia contest is from “Tiger City” Mandaluyong. Ernesto “Jun” Espinosa, 44, topped over 20 contestants from Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia on Saturday at RJ Bistro in Makati to take the P100,000 top prize. He will be traveling to Graceland this year, the 40th death year of the King of Rock ’n Roll.)