WBO junior welterweight champion Terence waits for the start of a round during his unification fight with WBC champion Viktor Postol of Ukraine at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on July 23, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Crawford won the fight by unanimous decision. Steve Marcus/Getty Images/AFP
Unbeaten welterweight champ Terence Crawford can’t wait to share the ring with resurgent boxing legend Manny Pacquiao.
The 30-year-old pound-for-pound A-lister from Omaha said he should be the top pick among all fighters queued up in the “Pacquiao sweepstakes.”
In an interview with Los Angeles Times, the 30-year-old Crawford (33-0 with 24 knockouts) said he’s been eyeing that fight for three years now.
“Like I’ve said before, I’m not worrying about Pacquiao right now. If the fight presents itself and it comes to fruition, then we’ll handle that. But until then I don’t feel the need to get into it,” Crawford was quoted as saying.
“(Top Rank boss Bob) Arum has been trying to make the fight for a while and it hasn’t worked. We can’t make those guys fight.”
Arum is reportedly going to the Philippines to talk to Pacquiao because “you don’t know with Manny until you sit and talk with him and eyeball him.”
Making the Crawford fight more relevant for Pacquiao is the fact that only last month, Crawford scored a ninth-round technical knockout over Jeff Horn, the Australian who resorted to rough tactics in beating the Filipino last year in Brisbane.
Crawford said he’s got more to offer than Top Rank stablemate Vasyl Lomachenko of Ukraine, who wouldn’t want to go up from his lightweight perch to face Pacquiao.
Pacquiao is coming off a seventh-round stoppage of Lucas Matthysse.