Bob Arum pushes Pacquiao-Crawford fight in the Middle East

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

After saying that he doesn’t want Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao to face Terence Crawford to protect his former Top Rank fighter, Arum has seemingly changed his mind.

With the lack of potential welterweight foes under Top Rank, Arum found it hard to seek an opponent for Crawford which ultimately forced him to set the Pacman-Crawford bout to be staged in the Middle East.

Pacman’s flawless performance against Keith “One Time” Thurman proved the former still had plenty left in the tank, making it an easier decision for Arum to book the fight.

Arum has designated Daniel Kinahan, one of his most trusted boxing power brokers, to arrange the fight in the Middle East.

“Dan has been handling all of that, you know, major fights that we would like to do. Like for example a Pacquiao-Crawford fight, which Dan has been working on,” Arum told IFL TV.

On the other hand, if the Middle East negotiations’ bubble will pop, Arum already had a back-up plan, with Macau in his mind as a second venue.

It was in Macau where Arum staged the Pacquiao-Brandon Rios and Pacquaio-Chris Algieri bouts last 2013 and 2014 respectively.

As of the moment, Top Rank Promotions and Arum are reaching out to both camps and presenting all the possible scenarios for the mega-fight.