Crawford unhappy at not getting Pacquiao fight, seeing him lose to Horn

Boxingnews24.com

By Chris Williams: Terence Crawford took to social media last Saturday night to complain bitterly about him not being allowed to fight Manny Pacquiao, and then the Filipino star losing to Australian Jeff Horn (17-0-1, 11 KOs) in Brisbane. Crawford didn’t say who wouldn’t let him fight Pacquio (59-7-2, 38 KOs), but it seemed to me like he might have been talking about his promoters.

Instead of Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum feeding him to Crawford, he fed him to Jeff Horn. Crawford had been inactive, waiting seemingly to see if he could get the fight with Pacquiao. Horn got the fight with Pacquiao, and Crawford seems to have taken the news hard, especially with Pacquiao losing.
Here’s what Crawford (31-0, 22 KOs) said on his Twitter account in him complaining about Pacquiao not fighting him:

”Smh [expletive] crazy they wouldn’t let me fight him, but let him go over there [to Australia] and lose smmfh,” said Crawford in talking about Pacquiao losing to Jeff Horn.

Pacquiao could have passed the torch to Crawford and turned him into Top Rank’s next PPV star. That would have been a good win for Crawford. Unfortunately, there’s no point in Crawford fighting Pacquiao now. He’s already been beaten, and he might wind up finishing his boxing career against Jeff Horn in a series of rematches.

If Arum opts to put Pacquiao in with Horn 3 to 4 straight times, I think that’ll take the Filipino star to the end of his career. Horn probably won’t agree to fight Crawford after those fights are done with, because he could make some good clean cash fighting the bigger names like Errol Spence Jr., Danny Garcia, Amir Khan or Keith Thurman.

Taking Pacquiao’s pelt would have moved Crawford up to one of the top fighters in boxing. It’s kind of funny that Horn is the one that gets that elevated position rather than Crawford, because I don’t see him as being as good a fighter. It doesn’t matter through. The fact of the matter is, Horn got to Pacquiao first, and now he’s becoming the big name in the welterweight division. Crawford got skipped over and is left with a fight against Julius Indongo, a fighter that is not exactly a household name in the U.S.

Arum found a high bidder for the Pacquiao fight in Horn’s management. There was big money for Pacquiao in fighting in Australia against Horn. Arum was smart. Pacquiao got a $10 million payday fighting Horn. If Pacquiao had fought Crawford, I can’t see him making that kind of money. I think Arum would have eventually put Crawford in with Pacquiao after the Filipino star won a few fights as the WBO welterweight champion first.

It’s in Arum’s best interest to turn Crawford into a star, because he’s one of his Top Rank stable fighters. But I don’t know Arum is going to do now though. Pacquiao’s market value has likely dropped due to his loss to Horn. If Pacquiao gets beaten 2 to 3 more times by Horn, it’s pointless for Arum to make the Pacquiao-Crawford fight.

Crawford will need another path to become a big star in boxing. I don’t think Crawford going in the right direction fighting Indongo. That’s a waste of time because this is the wrong era for fighters to try and become a star in boxing by unifying all the titles. That old trick no longer works to make a fighter a big name.

Boxing is different now. You have to beat popular fighters and look good in doing so to become a big name. Crawford has been doing neither of those things. He’s not been fighting big names, and his fights have been boring at times, with him running around the ring, sticking his tongue out at his opponents, and taunting them. Crawford should have become a stationary slugger to make his fights exciting to watch. He also should have moved up to the welterweight division 2 years ago instead of waiting until he’s almost 30 before considering the move.

There is no easy way to stardom now for Crawford. The Pacquiao fight is off the table, if ever was on the table. Crawford will now need to move up to welterweight and hope that Arum matches him against good fighters so that he can make a name for himself. If all Arum does is match Crawford against Jessie Vargas, it’s not going to happen. Crawford will age out and never become a star. He needs to be matched against the best welterweights, and unfortunately for Arum, many of the best welterweights are not in his stable at his time. Pacquiao is an aging, undersized welterweight. Horn is probably not going to fight Crawford. I can’t see that fight happening.

Crawford seems to be very bitter about Pacquiao fighting Horn instead of him, and then losing that fight. Crawford wanted to be the one that took the 38-year-olld past his prime Pacquiao’s scalp to add to his collection. The victory for Terence Crawford would have turned him into a mini star in the boxing world. Now instead of Crawford becoming the star, the 29-year-old Horn is on his way to super-stardom. Talk about rubbing salt in wound. Pacquiao and Crawford’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank didn’t seem to be all that upset about Pacquiao losing to Horn.

Of course, Arum co-promotes Horn, so it’s not bad for him that he won the fight. In listening to Arum talk at the post-fight press conference last Saturday, I got the impression that he sees Horn becoming a big name in the U.S in the same way that European knockout artist Gennady Golovkin has become a big name in the States.

If Arum can build Jeff Horn up in the U.S by matching him continually against Pacquiao, he could have his next PPV attraction for Top Rank. So instead of Crawford becoming that guy, it’s Jeff Horn. In looking at that possible scenario, I could see how Crawford would be upset at being passed over for the Pacquiao fight. Taking Pacquiao’s scalp would have made Crawford a star in the U.S.

It’s Jeff Horn that is becoming the star after his 12 round unanimous decision win over Pacquiao. Horn is young at 29, and he fights in a country that has a large PPV audience for his fights. He’s a money maker now. Crawford is fighting little known IBF light welterweight champion Julius Indongo (22-0, 11 KOs) next on August 19 on ESPN and ESPN Deportes at the Pinnacle Bank Arena, in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Crawford should have given up the idea of fighting Pacquiao a long, long time ago. While I think Arum wanted to make the Pacquiao-Crawford in the past, the feeling doesn’t seem to be mutual with Pacquiao. He’s never seemed excited about the prospects of fighting Crawford, and you can understand why.

Crawford uses a lot of movement, holding and counter punching to win his fights. Crawford is not the type that will stand and fight Pacquiao. For that reason, I think he’s not someone that Pacquiao wants to fight. Pacquiao wants a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr. I don’t think that’s going to happen now, but if he loses to Crawford, then he can really forget about it. The other reason why Pacquiao hasn’t given the green light to a Crawford fight is the lack of money there would be for such a fight.

Pacquiao vs. Crawford wouldn’t bring in big PPV numbers in the U.S. It might do similar numbers to the third Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley fight, which brought in 400,000 buys on HBO. Pacquiao isn’t going to take a risk fighting Crawford in a fight that won’t bring in huge buys. Crawford hasn’t distinguished himself yet to make a name. It would be Pacquiao that would be helping Crawford out just like he did when he was matched by Arum against Chris Algieri, Bradley, Brandon Rios, Jessie Vargas and Horn.

If Crawford wants a fight, he needs to move up to welterweight and take on Errol Spence Jr. He’s said that he would like to fight Crawford. Would Arum make that fight? I’d say that’s probably a big no. I don’t think Arum ever makes a fight between Crawford and Spence. It’s too dangerous of a fight for Crawford. In looking at how Crawford’s head was whiplashed each time he was hit by the smallish Felix Diaz in his last fight on May 20, Spence would be a nightmare for Crawford. Those head-snapping shots that Diaz was landing would become knockout blows if Spence was the one throwing them at Crawford.