Top Rank boss Bob Arum has the tall task of finding pound-for-pound stalwart Terence Crawford a formidable opponent.
The 32-year-old Crawford (36-0, 27 KOs), the WBO 147 pound champion, is yearning for a career-defining fight, and if Arum has it his way, he’ll be able to choose from a pool of five welterweights that include Manny Pacquiao, Shawn Porter, Kell Brook, Keith Thurman and Yordenis Ugas for a clash in either September or October.
“We have to look for Terence Crawford to fight a major welterweight. [Pacquiao is] the opponent that I would most like Terence to fight, and I think he would,” Arum told TalkSport. “Now, that requires a lot of money and we’ve had proposals from the Mid-East ...I don’t know if those proposals will be available for this year. That is the problem. I don’t know whether the Mid-East venues will allow spectators this year, they may not allow it until there’s a vaccine.”
Arum said former IBF welterweight titleholder Brook’s management contacts him almost on a weekly basis to reignite conversations on a Crawford fight.
As for the rest of the quartet of potential fighters in Pacquiao, Porter, Thurman and Ugas, Arum believes he can secure a deal due to his rekindled relationship with PBC head Al Haymon.
“We’re working well together with that company, so I don’t think that’ll be a problem,” said Arum.
One name chiefly missing from the list of Crawford opponents is the other unified titleholder of the welterweight division in WBC and IBF champion Errol Spence Jr.
Crawford is calling for the fight now, while Spence Jr.’s camp believes the fight needs to be built up better in order for both sides to make the most amount of money.
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. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com.
