Arum says Bahrain might stage Pacquiao-Crawford this year

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

After Bob Arum stated his plans of staging the Manny Pacquiao-Terence Crawford fight either in the United Arab Emirates or Macau, the Top Rank Promotions head honcho recently said that Bahrain might also be one of the most suitable venues for the mega-fight.

Arum is targeting a huge partnership between MTK Global and KHK Sports, a sports media based in Bahrain led by Sheik Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

“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. I would love to do some big, big events in Bahrain,” said Arum.

Originally slated to be fought in UAE, Arum explained that he is exploring more options because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Macau also part of the back-up venues.

“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,” added Arum.

With Arum trying to finalize everything for the Pacquiao-Crawford clash in such an early period of time, will the two giants finally slug it out for one of the most anticipated bouts in the history of boxing?