Crawford vs Postol: Winner could face Manny Pacquiao in November

Terence Crawford and Viktor Postol are set to do battle in a junior welterweight title unification fight tonight, but there may be something more than the WBC and WBO titles on the line. A possible shot at Manny Pacquiao on November 5 could hang in the balance, as well.

According to ESPN.com, there are three potential opponents for Pacquiao’s supposed return to the ring, and two of them are in this fight. The third, as expected, is WBO welterweight titleholder Jessie Vargas. All of the fights would be in-house for Top Rank, and thus easy to make — even Postol, who says he would take the fight even though he’d have to be without his trainer Freddie Roach, who would, of course, train Pacquiao.

Here’s what Roach said about that situation:

“We’d make sure (Postol is) in good hands, but the thing is, I would have to train Manny to beat him, and I think he can. I believe if Crawford fought Manny and pulled an upset, we might have a new pay-per-view star, and that’s what we need in boxing.”

Many were hoping to see Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KO) face Crawford (28-0, 20 KO) earlier this year, but Pacquiao instead chose to fight Timothy Bradley Jr for a third time, while Crawford stayed busy with a title defense against Hank Lundy.

If Pacquiao is as good as he was in April against Bradley, do you think Crawford or Postol can beat him, if the fight happens? Who has the better shot?