By Keith Idec
Assuming all goes well against Dierry Jean on Saturday night, Terence Crawford definitely wants to fight Manny Pacquiao next.
“It’d mean a lot,” Crawford told BoxingScene.com. “It’d take my career to the next level.”
The 28-year-old Crawford still isn’t sure Pacquiao will want to fight him next spring, when the Filipino superstar is expected to return to the ring following a loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 2 in Las Vegas and subsequent shoulder surgery.
Unlike the Mayweather fight, there aren’t any promotional conflicts that could prevent a Pacquiao-Crawford fight from happening because both boxers are promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc.
“I don’t know,” Crawford said regarding Pacquiao’s potential willingness to fight him. “That’s something they’re going to have to decide. Our teams are going to have to talk to each other and figure it out, if that’s the fight they really want.”
Crawford (28-0, 16 KOs) still makes 140 pounds quite comfortably and Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, has repeatedly stated that the 36-year-old Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) still could get down to 140 pounds. Regardless, Crawford would move up either to a catch weight or welterweight for the opportunity to oppose Pacquiao.
This week, though, Crawford is concentrating on making the first defense of the WBO junior welterweight title he won by knocking out Thomas Dulorme (22-2, 14 KOs) in the sixth round of his last fight, April 18 in Arlington, Texas. HBO is scheduled to televise his 12-round fight against Montreal’s Jean (29-1, 20 KOs) as the main event of a “World Championship Boxing” broadcast from CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska, Crawford’s hometown (9:30 pm. ET/PT).
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
