Terence Crawford proved himself as the best pound-for-pound fighter after defeating Errol Spence Jr. last month. His victory saw him unify the WBO, WBC, WBA (Super), IBF, and The Ring welterweight titles. In achieving this feat, he became the first man to do so in the four-belt era. However, there was another fight that he had wanted for a long time. It was against none other than the Filipino icon, Manny Pacquiao.

Many people doubted Crawford heading into the fight against Errol Spence Jr. However, he shut his critics down by dominating the fight and earning a ninth-round knockout win to become the unified and undisputed welterweight champion of the world. Crawford also earned an estimated $21 million from that fight. Besides that big-money fight, ‘Bud’s wish to fight Manny Pacquiao never came to fruition. He recently discussed it with Joe Rogan. Is there any chance the fight might happen?

Terence Crawford tells Joe Rogan about missing out on the Manny Pacquiao fight

The 40-0 boxer has been a champion for almost a decade now. Just like any other boxer, he wished to have big-money and high-profile fights. Besides being happy after defeating Errol Spence Jr., Crawford told Joe Rogan that he was also gutted for waiting so long to fight someone like Spence Jr. in his late 30s. Terence Crawford said, “I was kinda disappointed… that it took this long for me to get my recognition, for me to get a big marquee fight of this status at 35 years old.”

Moreover, he mentioned that one fight he was majorly looking forward to was the fight against former 8-division champion, Manny Pacquiao. ‘PacMan’ is a legend in the game, but he retired in 2021. Moreover, Crawford wanted to fight him for a long time. “I was chasing Manny Pacquiao for probably five years before that [Errol Spence Jr. fight].” Meanwhile, Pacquiao, once during an interview after his retirement, mentioned that he could consider fighting Terence Crawford or Errol Spence Jr.

‘PacMan’ once ideated a fight against Crawford: Can Pacquiao vs. Crawford happen in 2023?

After Manny Pacquiao finished his presidential campaign in 2022, he talked about a potential return to boxing. That was the moment when he was asked about fighting Terence Crawford or Errol Spence Jr. He appeared to show some interest in that idea. Pacquiao said, “Of course, I can fight Terence Crawford or Spence.”

He stated that he was eager to fight Crawford and Spence Jr. in a bid to test them if they really were championship material. “I am eager to fight with them because to test them if they’re really a champion. So I want to test them to fight with me,” added Manny Pacquiao.

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Interestingly, the closest that a fight between Manny Pacquiao and Terence Crawford ever came to was in 2021, before Manny retired. A PPV fight between the two was supposed to happen in the UAE. However, the funding from investors in Abu Dhabi never came, and the fight fell through.

Even though ‘PacMan’ is currently retired, aged 44, a fight against the unified champion Terence Crawford could prove to be a big-money fight. There have been many fighters who have come out of retirement to compete in some exciting fights, and Pacquiao could consider that option. However, it remains to be seen what will happen in the future because anything can happen in the world of combat sports.

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