When Bob Arum was driving the career of Manny Pacquiao, he had a chance to pit the Filipino fighter against Terence Crawford, but he missed the mark on making the fight happen in-house.
Arum has previously reasoned that he was looking after Pacquiao’s health and safety at the time by not putting Crawford in front of him. Arum believed the Nebraska-native would seriously hurt the aging legend in a boxing match.
The 41-year-old Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) continued his career, however, and signed a deal with PBC in 2018, leaving the Top Rank nest after a remarkable run solidifying his status as an all-time great. He’s since defeated the likes of Adrien Broner and Keith Thurman under the care of manager Al Haymon.
The 32-year-old Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs) has been yearning for a legacy-defining fight of late, and Arum is now keen on rekindling his relationship with Pacquiao to supply the dance partner.
The coronavirus crisis and travel bans would further complicate matters in making the fight happen soon, but the 88-year-old Arum believes it’s doable by securing a sizable site fee at an international locale.
“I think the fight would have to take place outside of the United States,” Arum told BoxingScene.com in an interview. “The question is do we do it in the Mid East or outside of China in Macau, how quick would they be to open up? We’re working on it. This is not a period of business as usual.”
“When oil was $50 a barrel, [the middle east] was a target market. Now that it’s down, I don’t know how viable it is. But they’re good fans. The Saudis want to build up tourism. We would be amenable to do events over there. We can’t do the fight in the United States right now because of the travel ban.”
Arum has deep ties in Macau, as he has staged many shows there in the past.
The middle east would be a new nut to crack for the Hall of Fame promoter. But as Matchroom Boxing head Eddie Hearn showed last winter with the rematch between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz in Saudi Arabia, it can be done.
Hearn scored $50 million from the government to bring the fight to the country, and Arum would likely be looking for a figure in that neighborhood as well.
Arum told Keith Idec of BoxingScene.com last week that there have been tentative talks already to agree on a deal between Pacquiao and Crawford.
“I had feelers out before all of his happened with the coronavirus,” said Arum, “where it was pretty much down the line about getting a Pacquiao-Crawford fight on late in the summer or in the fall. Then, of course, everything blew up. But I am optimistic that I will be able to continue with these talks in the next month or so. I talked to Terence and [trainer/manager Brian McIntyre] about it. It appears to me that Crawford and Pacquiao wanna go ahead with that fight.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist and member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011. He has written for the likes of the LA Times, Guardian, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Men’s Health and NFL.com and currently does TV commentary for combat sports programming that airs on Fox Sports and hosts his own radio show in Los Angeles. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com.