MANNY PACQUIAO’s representatives will hold talks over blockbuster showdown with Terence Crawford this week, his former promoter Bob Arum has revealed.
The former eight-weight world champion, 42, is gearing up to make his long-awaited return to the ring this year.
And according to Arum, the Filipino could potentially be welcomed back to the ring by Crawford – with discussions over a lucrative overseas bout between the pair set to take place this week.
The veteran promoter, who represents Crawford, told Barbershop Conversations: “He [Kenny Porter] came to our office two weeks ago to talk about a Crawford – Porter fight, and then out of nowhere the idea of a tremendous site fee, a possibility of doing Pacquiao-Crawford came up.
“Obviously, it’s more money for Terence. Terence would prefer a Pacquiao fight than anyone else.
“Yeah, we’re going to see what happens, and we’ll know this week whether Pacquiao-Crawford can happen.
“If it doesn’t happen, since [Errol] Spence clearly doesn’t want to fight Crawford, I think Crawford-Porter would be a tremendous fight.”
The fight the boxing world is itching to see is the long-awaited battle between Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.
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Arum himself is eager to see the fight but believes Spence Jr isn’t as keen on the bout as he’s made out.
When asked if Spence doesn’t want to fight Crawford, Arum said: “Yeah, come on.
“Crawford wants to fight Spence, but Spence has said loud and clear he doesn’t want to fight Crawford.”
Arum’s comment’s on a potential Pacquiao showdown with pound-for-pound king Crawford come only a few days after former IBF welterweight title challenger Mikey Garcia accused Pacman of taking easy fights.
He told Little Giant Boxing: “Everybody would like to fight [Manny] Pacquiao. Is it going to happen? I don’t know.
“It was supposed to happen. Towards the end of the year, I heard him talking about Conor McGregor.
“Then he started talking about Ryan Garcia. I haven’t talked to him.
“From that, it tells me that Manny is looking for a low-risk, high reward type of fight.”
Pacquiao hasn’t fought since he ended Keith Thurman’s reign as WBA welterweight champion in July 2019.
His inactivity recently led the WBA to strip him of their 147lb belt and declare him ‘champion in recess’.
