Bob Arum: Terence Crawford won’t be next for Pacquiao

It’s no secret that Manny Pacquiao’s team hasn’t exactly been fond of the idea of facing junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford. And if it is a secret, it’s about the worst kept secret in the sport.

And while it looked like a Pacquiao-Crawford fight was mostly inevitable, because it’s probably the most compelling fight to make for Pacquiao at this time, we know learn that it won’t be happening anytime soon.

“There’ll be no Pacquiao-Crawford fight in the first to six months of the year definitely,” Arum told The Manila Times via overseas call on Tuesday. “Only if the fight will be in the United States but we’re not planning the next fight in the United States so we’re also not planning on Crawford now.”

There were reports that Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz demanded a $20M guaranteed minimum to consider Crawford as an opponent, but with PPV numbers generally in the dumps, that doesn’t really incentivize Arum to push for that fight.

Instead Arum says he’s looking towards Pacquiao facing Jeff Horn (16-0-1, 11 KOs) this spring, which I can guarantee won’t be a box office smash. And I say that with no disrespect to Horn, but he has an even smaller profile than Jessie Vargas.

But with Arum looking to stage Pacquiao’s next fight overseas, perhaps he can drum up some local interest in an exotic location or something...