Marquez Warns That Crawford's Style Will Be Tough For Pacquiao

By Miguel Rivera

Former four division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez knows a lot about Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao.

The Mexican veteran faced Pacquiao four times since 2004. The fourth and final time was in 2012, when Marquez survived as tough assault to knock Pacquiao out cold in the sixth round.

Pacquiao announced his retirement back in April, after winning a twelve round decision over Timothy Bradley at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

One of the frontrunners to face Pacquiao is the winner of Saturday's junior welterweight unification between Terence Crawford and Viktor Postol.

Crawford (28-0, 20KOs), the WBO champion at 140-pounds, is the favorite to win but there is no guarantee of victory. Postol is fully capable of pulling off the upset victory.

Pacquiao's return is being positioned for late October or early November.

Between all of the possible opponents like Adrien Broner, Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman - Marquez views Crawford as having the most difficult style for Pacquiao to overcome.

"They are very good opponents like Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman... they are top level opponents and they would be competitive, close fights - but with Terence Crawford there would be a great risk. We know the boxing quality of Terence Crawford, who can fight from both stances, who can handle the speed, has a strong punch, has the style to give him a competitive fight," said Marquez to Golpe a Golpe.

"Broner could be difficult because of his defense, but we've seen that he falls short when he steps up against top level competition. For me, Crawford is a great opponent and he could give Pacquiao some real trouble. I think it's a very tough fight [for Pacquiao]."