Terence Crawford Chooses Manny Pacquiao Over Conor McGregor, Sets Possible Fight Date

KEY POINTS

Terence Crawford chooses to fight Manny Pacquiao next over Conor McGregor
Crawford thinks beating Pacquiao is like "passing of the torch"
Crawford still respects what Pacquiao can do inside the ring

WBO welterweight champ Terence Crawford chose Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao over UFC star Conor McGregor and has set a target date for their fight.

Among the top welterweights today, Crawford is arguably the biggest name to beat. “Bud” is widely considered by many boxing pundits as the best pound for pound fighter in the world and has always stated that he is willing and open to fight any of the PBC [Premier Boxing Champions] fighters including IBF/WBC champion Errol Spence Jr. However, after the tragic car accident, many doubt if Spence can still be healthy and give a tough competition.

Nevertheless, Crawford still got two options – Pacquiao and McGregor. The Crawford vs. Pacquiao fight was long viewed as a big pay-per-view fight and both fighters have expressed tremendous amount of interest about it. In fact, in a recent interview with Michelle Joy Phelps of Behind The Gloves , Crawford said that if he had a choice of fighting UFC’s McGregor, Spence Jr. or Pacquiao next, he would definitely go for the future hall of famer Pacquiao, Now Boxing reported.

“Manny (Pacquiao), for sure,” answered Crawford.

According to the American champ, beating Pacquiao is like “the passing of the torch” as the eight-division title holder is last great fighter of his generation. Given Pacquiao’s age, Crawford still respects the Filipino’s power and experience and doesn’t want to underestimate what the legend can do.

“It would be like the passing of the torch. He’s the last great fighter in this era left. Floyd [Mayweather] retired. [Miguel] Cotto retired. Erik Morales, [Marco Antonio] Barrera, whoever you name, they all retired. He [Pacquiao] is the last man standing right now,” Crawford pointed out.

“He’s proven to have a lot left to give, and he can keep up with the young lions. It’s not my place to say if it’s smart or not because he just beat one of the top welterweights in the division, so, he [Pacquiao] belongs there,” Crawford added.

Manny Pacquiao beat Adrien Broner on Saturday night to retain his WBA welterweight title. In this picture, Pacquiao in the ring during the WBA welterweight championship against Adrien Broner at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Jan. 19, 2019. Christian Petersen/Getty Images

“Pac-man” never fought Crawford when he was still with Top Rank promotions. After his controversial loss to Jeff Horn in 2017, Pacquiao left Top Rank and the potential fight against Crawford never come to fruition.

During a brief talk with Elie Seckbach of EsNews, Crawford insisted that he will be rooting for a Pacquiao fight and said that “hopefully tehy can make the fight in May and may the best man win.”

Top Rank boss Bob Arum feels a fight between Crawford and Pacquiao can possibly be made but it all depends on if the Filipino Senator really wants it.