Freddie Roach says they offered to fight Crawford; says Arum turned it down

[Nubia]

Found the video interesting since it was reported in the media that it was Manny who turned down the fight. Then some people reported it was the Crawford camp who turned down the fight. But sure enough, it was Bob all along, at least according to Roach.

Start at 01:00

[Willy Wanker]

I kept hearing that Crawford's team turned down the fight, and the implications were that Crawford just simply wasn't quite ready yet. All of this came from Arum's mouth directly.

I believe Arum is the one who thinks Crawford isn't ready. Crawford seems to have a lot of confidence in himself and I can't see why he would turn down a career high payday and his highest profile fight to date.

[soul_survivor]

i remember reading a statement from crawford/his team they they need more time

[Dr Rumack]

Arum concerned about Manny starching Bud.

[deathofaclown]

Probably a smart move, it's quite a jump up in levels where he's fought to fighting Pacquiao. I don't care how talented he is, or how much Pacquiao has left, Pacquiao would probably have way too much for him in terms of experience and he's not completely shot or anything. People are sleeping on Pacquiao now but losing a points decision to Floyd is hardly any way to measure what a guy has left, everyone loses to Floyd. Most people with a shred of boxing knowledge knew it was highly likely Floyd would beat him on points. I know Pacquiao isn't what he once was but I think he still has enough left to be a top fighter.

Putting Crawford in with Pac now might just give him a loss that he doesn't need. At least when they put Canelo in with Floyd, they always knew Canelo had a big fanbase to fall back on, win or lose, and Floyd was still considered the best anyway. It Crawford is meant to be one of the best of the new generation, it's hardly going to look good losing to Pacquiao, considering most people think he's done.

[Lester Tutor]

hard to know because both Roach and Arum are big time liars. comes with the territory. however, I could see Arum trying to preserve Crawford since Pac's soon to leave.

[GOD-FR33]

Agree/disagree....

Probably a smart move, it's quite a jump up in levels where he's fought to fighting Pacquiao. I don't care how talented he is, or how much Pacquiao has left, Pacquiao would probably have way too much for him in terms of experience and he's not completely shot or anything. People are sleeping on Pacquiao now but losing a points decision to Floyd is hardly any way to measure what a guy has left, everyone loses to Floyd. Most people with a shred of boxing knowledge knew it was highly likely Floyd would beat him on points. I know Pacquiao isn't what he once was but I think he still has enough left to be a top fighter.

Putting Crawford in with Pac now might just give him a loss that he doesn't need. At least when they put Canelo in with Floyd, they always knew Canelo had a big fanbase to fall back on, win or lose, and Floyd was still considered the best anyway. It Crawford is meant to be one of the best of the new generation, it's hardly going to look good losing to Pacquiao, considering most people think he's done.

Good post. I disagree with the Floyd/Manny comment though. What happened in the fight was more than meets the eye. Manny outpointed Floyd and beat him at his own game. He out defended Floyd, out smarted Floyd at times, controlled the center of the ring, and exposed Floyd for what he truly is. Floyd proved nothing on May 2nd. It was Manny who proved more. His performance was mediocre, but it went over a lot of fans head. Anyway, Manny would KO and stop Crawford right now. He KO's anyone at 140lbs. He is freakishly strong for his size like Evander Holyfield was.

[bluebeam]

Good post. I disagree with the Floyd/Manny comment though. What happened in the fight was more than meets the eye. Manny outpointed Floyd and beat him at his own game. He out defended Floyd, out smarted Floyd at times, controlled the center of the ring, and exposed Floyd for what he truly is. Floyd proved nothing on May 2nd. It was Manny who proved more. His performance was mediocre, but it went over a lot of fans head. Anyway, Manny would KO and stop Crawford right now. He KO's anyone at 140lbs. He is freakishly strong for his size like Evander Holyfield was.

So what manny did on may 2nd went over the whole boxing world's head?

[SeekDaGreat]

Manny would have beaten the living **** out of Crawford. He was getting tagged with flush bombs from Diery Jean. It would have been target practice.

[gmc_rfc_06]

I believe it.

Pacquiao, even at this stage, would have torched Crawford comfortably. Bob not throwing his current talent into the lions den to lose to the guy that's retiring.