By Edward Chaykovsky
Former world champion and Sky Sports analyst Glenn McCrory believes WBC/WBO junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford would have retired Manny Pacquiao if the pair would have met on November 5th.
Pacquiao announced his retirement from the sport in April after winning a twelve round unanimous decision over Timothy Bradley to pursue a full-time political career.
Despite him winning a senatorial seat in the Philippines in May, the boxer is already looking at returning to the ring this fall and his promoter, Top Rank, has reserved November 5 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao's adviser Michael Koncz, and trainer Freddie Roach, have ruled out Crawford a possible opponent for November. They are in favor of fighting WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas instead. A deal could be wrapped up by this week.
"I think taking the fight with Terence Crawford would have sent him straight back into retirement. This way he has a good chance of winning, and maybe he needs one more before they put him in with somebody as good as Crawford. I think it’s a smart option to get him a warm up fight. But you never know with Pacquiao at this stage of his career. Even the likes of Vargas who is a solid enough professional might give Pacquiao trouble," McCrory told On The Ropes Boxing Radio.
One fight that McCrory does NOT want to see is a rematch with between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., who still remains retired from the sport.
"Having seen the last Mayweather fight with Pacquiao, where Pacquiao was widely outboxed and widely beaten, I think there was a general feeling of being left down in that fight. All the promise that the fight showed and it didn’t live up to that. I for one would not relish a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight," McCrory said.
