By Keith Idec

Terence Crawford hasn’t given much thought to Manny Pacquiao’s comeback.

Promoter Bob Arum told multiple media outlets Tuesday that the Filipino superstar likely will return to the ring October 29 or November 5. Crawford is a possible opponent, but the undefeated WBO super lightweight champion is consumed with preparation for his 140-pound title unification fight against Viktor Postol on July 23 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

“I’m not thinking about Manny Pacquiao at all,” Crawford said Wednesday during a conference call. “My main focus is Viktor Postol, and that’s it. That’s all.”

Crawford acknowledged, though, that topping Postol (28-0, 12 KOs) in the first pay-per-view main event of his career could enhance his chances of facing Pacquiao later this year.

“It would help me tremendously,” Crawford continued, “but again, I’m not even thinking about that fight right now. I’m not even thinking about if I may or will be fighting him, or if I put on a good show. My main focus is on Viktor Postol, and that’s it.”

Arum said 6½ months ago that Crawford (28-0, 20 KOs) wasn’t known enough among casual boxing fans to match the Omaha, Nebraska, native against Pacquiao in an April 9 pay-per-view fight.

Pacquiao instead faced Timothy Bradley for a third time in a welterweight fight that drew intense criticism and failed to generate a significant number of buys (reportedly slightly more than 400,000). The 37-year-old Pacquiao (58-6-2, 37 KOs) beat Bradley (33-2-1, 13 KOs, 1 NC) rather easily at MGM Grand and said all along that his eventual 12-round, unanimous-decision victory over Bradley would be the last fight of his 21-year pro career.

About a month later, Pacquiao won a senatorial election in the Philippines. That political victory earned him a much more time-consuming job than his previous position as a congressman.

When asked if he, like most, was skeptical of Pacquiao’s “retirement”, Crawford said, “I didn’t worry about that. I didn’t care to even know about it. That’s not my main focus.”

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.