I still remember when Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao was with Top Rank promotions. He opted to fight what he thought was a relatively easy opponent in Jeff Horn, an Australian school teacher, and lost his WBO welterweight title in a huge upset.
It was a shameful display of a cherry pick gone wrong. Pacquiao thought it would be an easy fight and he ended up struggling and losing on the judges scorecards.
I know Pacquiao fans will continue to cry that the fight was a robbery but that is not true. If you watch the Pacquiao vs. Horn fight with unbiased eyes you will see that Horn man handled the smaller Filipino southpaw with ease and all Pacquiao had was the 9th round rally after that he was gassed out and threw nothing.
Pacquiao couldn’t even take out Horn, and this man is supposedly a devastating puncher.
Anyway, the truth is Pacquiao and his team decided to fight Horn to avoid undefeated American pound for pound stud Terence “Bud” Crawford.
Crawford went onto destroy and stop Jeff Horn and snatch up that WBO strap, he thought Pacquiao would try to get his belt back but instead he left Top Rank to fight Lucas Matthysse.
When Pacquiao was offered the Crawford fight, I heard he demanded an insane amount of guaranteed money like $20 million. Whenever someone demands that type of money they know they can’t win so they want to get paid well for taking an L.
I don’t blame Pacquiao for ducking Crawford, if he fought him he would have got humiliated and stopped.
Crawford is a dangerous fighter. He can switch hit from orthodox and southpaw stance and would confuse the PacMan all night making him swing and miss and fall right into a counter uppercut face first. It would be an easy fight for Crawford.
Instead of fighting Crawford, Pacquiao jumped ship and went to Premier Boxing Champions.
I saw an interview where Pacquiao claimed he would be willing to fight Crawford but that was all talk, just like when he nervously agreed to fight Errol Spence Jr. in the ring when called out. We all know Pacquiao didn’t want that smoke with Spence, and he opted to fight Keith Thurman instead who was coming off an injury and rocked against Josesito Lopez.
Pacquiao will not fight dangerous guys who look great, he waits for opponents to show signs of vulnerability before choosing them, just like with Thurman.
Terence Crawford has been nothing but respectful to Pacquiao, but the Pacman never extended that opportunity to fight him to pass the torch.
Crawford has called Pacquiao out on numerous occasions but it was silence in return.
I do remember Pacquiao challenged a smaller lightweight Vasyl Lomachenko to a fight. How weak is that you fight at welterweight and you are challenging a smaller fighter because you know you will have a better chance to win?
People need to start seeing the light, Pacquiao was never the beast the media and fans made him out to be. In fact, his team is even looking to face Mikey Garcia next another former lightweight coming off a loss.
I’ve seen some boxing writers claim Pacquiao belongs at the top of the pound for pound list after his win over Thurman.
I strongly disagree, until he fights and beats Terence Crawford or Errol Spence Jr., he doesn’t belong in the top five.
