Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum continues to dismiss the idea of WBO welterweight titleholder Terence Crawford, whom Arum promotes, fighting WBA welterweight titleholder Manny Pacquiao, whom Arum promoted through his prime years.
But now he’s getting a little more blunt. Arum has always said he didn’t want to make the fight, even when he promoted both of them, because he doesn’t see it as competitive, and because he maintains a soft spot for Pacquiao. The two did make a lot of money, after all.
Now, Arum is adding that Pacquiao doesn’t actually want that fight, and didn’t before.
“Pacquiao don’t want to fight. Leave Pacquiao alone. He’s an old man,” Arum told our colleagues at Fight Hub TV.
“He doesn’t want to fight Crawford. He didn’t want to fight Crawford when I was promoting him. There’s no disgrace in Pacquiao not fighting Crawford. Pacquiao is not competitive with Crawford. He’s a great fighter still, but he’s not competitive.”
Now, it does have to be said that the 41-year-old Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KO), who is widely considered the No. 3 welterweight in the game right now, is more competitive on paper than, you know, the guys Crawford has been fighting recently, like Amir Khan and Egidijus Kavaliauskas.
But overall, Arum’s stance on this is consistent. And even if Pacquiao did better than Khan or Kavaliauskas (who didn’t do terribly or anything), that wouldn’t necessarily make him competitive with the 32-year-old Crawford (36-0, 27 KO), whose big goal is fighting Errol Spence Jr at some point.