Could A Manny Pacquiao Vs. Terence Crawford Fight Take Place In Bahrain?
Top Rank’s Bob Arum continues to plant the seeds for a potential bout between Manny Pacquiao and Terence Crawford. The 88-year-old has been looking to get this welterweight clash going, while also looking at all alternatives for a location.
Top Rank will be returning to action in the United States on June 9. Eventually, the organization will be making its way overseas. That is where Arum sees a Pacquiao and Crawford clash taking place. He is also hoping for an audience, but due to the coronavirus, it is unsure how realistic that will be. Places Arum is considering include Macau and Australia. One other area that is being explored, as he told IFL TV, is Bahrain.
“We hope we get Crawford and Pacquiao in action this year and through our friends at MTK, we are in serious talks with Bahrain for doing major fights there,” Arum stated, via Boxing Scene. “I would love to do some big, big events in Bahrain.”
The location may end up being the safest spot to hold events in. Currently, Bahrain has 13,229 cases of the coronavirus, with only 21 deaths, according to John Hopkins Univerity.
Pacquiao (62-7-2) is the current WBA Welterweight Champion, beating Keith Thurman in his last fight via split decision for the “super” belt. The 41-year-old is on a three-fight win streak. Top Rank last produced a Pacquiao fight back in 2018, when Pacquiao beat Lucas Matthysse via TKO in seven rounds. It was a comeback win following a controversial loss to Jeff Horn, also on ESPN programming.
Crawford (36-0) is the current WBO Welterweight Champion. “Bud” won his last bout in December over Egidijus Kavaliauskas via TKO. It was the third time defending the WBO belt he won from Horn back in 2018. The 32-year-old has been eyeing a bout between Pacquiao or Errol Spence Jr. for a while now.
Arum is looking to collaborate with MTK Global on producing the event. MTK recently collaborated with KHK Sports, a Bahrain sports media project. Arum has also been adamant that with the current situation nothing is guaranteed. However, he is still looking to give it a shot.
“Let’s see what happens,” Arum went on to say. “Everything is likely, everyone wants to do these big events until it comes time to put up the money! But I think with Bahrain we’ve got a good shot at getting it done.”