By Miguel Rivera
WBO President Paco Valcarcel is very supportive of a possible junior welterweight fight between Terence Crawford (25-0, 17 KOs) and Chris Algieri (20-1, 8 KOs). Crawford was the WBO's champion at 135-pounds and plans to move up in weight for his next ring appearance.
Algieri previously held the belt after upsetting Ruslan Provodnikov last June. He was stripped of the title prior to moving up in weight last fall to challenge WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, dropped Algieri six times for a wide decision win. After that loss, Algieri filed a protest to regain his WBO title.
A Crawford-Algieri contest is being discussed by Top Rank. If the fight is complete, for the WBO it would solve two issues at once.
"Crawford is returning from being a world champion at lightweight and we would give priority to him [to fight for the title at 140]. We are still taking part in the protest of Chris Algieri, because in theory he renounced his title just before the first bell rang for his fight with Manny Pacquiao, but he put in his protest and we are engaged in that. If Crawford-Algieri is done, it facilitates things for us," Paco told ESPN Deportes.