Terence Crawford secured standout wins over both Errol Spence Jr. and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez during his career, but there is one fighter that the recently retired pound-for-pound star didn’t manage to get inside the ropes.
Crawford claimed the undisputed title in three weight divisions and is the only post-war fighter to have achieved that feat; trumping Julius Indongo, Spence and Canelo in a trifecta of impressive undisputed showdowns.
Back when ‘Bud’ was operating as a lightweight, and then super-lightweight, ‘Bud’ was linked to a clash against boxing’s only eight-division world champion, Manny Pacquiao.
Speaking on The Last Stand Podcast, Crawford’s trainer, Brian ‘BoMac’ McIntyre, revealed that they were promised a fight with the Filipino superstar after the American’s 2014 victory against Yuriorkis Gamboa.
“We were promised that [Pacquiao] fight a couple of times. We were promised that fight right after he beat Gamboa, they kept telling us ‘y’all are going to get the Pacquiao fight,’. So, we fought a couple more times at 140lbs and then the fight never materialised.
“There was a couple of times where Bob [Arum] and Todd acted like they were in negotiations, but there was other guys that were over there that were telling me they weren’t even really negotiating.
“I talked to Bob a couple of times and he was telling me different stuff that was supposed to have been going on that never materialised. So, I don’t know what happened, I don’t know why the fight never took place and why they never gave us that.
“We were promised false dreams, I should say.”
Crawford has also publicly stated that Pacquiao is the only fighter that he wishes he would have gotten the opportunity to fight before retirement, confidently declaring his belief that he would have knocked him out.
Ironically, Pacquiao also says he wanted the fight, and believes that Bob Arum protected Crawford by not making it.
