Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum strongly believes that World Boxing Organization [WBO] welterweight champion Terence Crawford is the big name opponent that Manny Pacquiao requires for a major pay-per-view blockbuster.
Pacquiao, who holds the WBA's welterweight title, has been out of the ring since July of 2019, when he won a twelve round decision over Keith Thurman at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Arum shot down the circulating talk, started by Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach, that the Filipino superstar could potentially move up in weight to fight someone like middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.
“Golovkin is ridiculous. It’s way, way too heavy. Golovkin can probably not make [a weight lower than] 160 [pounds], so Manny will be giving him 20 pounds. Golovkin is way too big for Manny,” Arum told The Manila Times.
But Crawford, who many views as Arum's top fighter, is more suitable.
“It’s [going to be] a blockbuster, just like Manny’s big fights in the past,” said Arum.
However, even Arum admits that a Pacquiao-Crawford fight would require spectators to make it happen - something not possible at the moment in the United States with the current COVID-19 restrictions.
If a venue based in the United States is not a possible option, then Arum would explore staging that fight in China, the Middle East or another location that has enough money to put up the necessary site fee to secure the rights to that contest.
“Well it depends. Right now, it is difficult to make arrangements for big fights because we don’t know when they will allow spectators. But again, once I clarify this up…I’ll go ahead and try to make that fight, finish it up, because I think it will be an interesting fight. After the pandemic, [that is],” Arum explained.