FILE – Manny Pacquiao prepares to fight Keith Thurman in a welterweight title fight Saturday, July 20, 2019, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Top Rank chief Bob Arum has taken a U-turn from his earlier statements about a potential showdown between top welterweights Manny Pacquiao and Terence Crawford.
After reportedly dismissing a possible title unification bout between Pacquiao and Crawford less than a month ago, Arum now sees the megafight as “a real possibility” of happening.
Arum added in an interview with iFL TV recently that a Pacquiao-Crawford clash is also “one of the things that we’re working on.”
Getting key components to fall into place, however, remains a challenge especially with the current situation where sports continue to be on hiatus due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
One of the concerns is the need to lower pay-per-view rates but in terms of interest, Arum said there’s no lack of it.
“Pacquiao wants to fight Crawford and Crawford wants to fight Pacquiao.”
The 32-year-old Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs), who holds the WBO crown, stopped Egidijus Kavaliauskas of Lithuania in the ninth round in his last fight four months ago.
Pacquiao, 41, meanwhile, hasn’t fought since scoring an impressive victory over the much younger Keith Thurman to win the WBA (super) crown last July.