It would’ve been awesome had all of them fought in the same era.
When Terence Crawford destroyed Errol Spence for the undisputed welterweight championship, one of the many luminaries sitting at ringside was Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao.
After the spectacular one-sided showdown at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, journalists and vloggers rushed to the fighting pride of the Philippines to get his thoughts on Crawford’s massive win and several other topics. That’s expected as the opinion of a ring legend like Pacquiao can always be buzzworthy.
“I didn’t expect the fight to be like that but Crawford, he did a good job,” Pacquiao said during the media scrum.
When pressed by a reporter about the Omaha slugger’s case to be named as the no. 1 pound-for-pound boxer today, the eight-division champion answered in the affirmative.
“I think so, I think so,” stated Manny.
Doubling down on his admiration of Crawford’s superb performance, the Pambansang Kamao insinuated that there was no need to give Spence a return bout.
“I don’t know if there [has to be] a rematch [because] it’s kind of one-side,” he said.
As the questions kept pouring down, the name of unified super-bantamweight champion, WBC and WBO title holder Naoya Inoue was brought up. At that moment, Pacquiao’s face lit up and immediately heaped praise on the Japanese knockout artist.
“Inoue is my favorite guy,” declared Pacquiao.
The General Santos City native, who is scheduled to have an exhibition bout with Muay Thai great Buakaw Banchamek early next year, has his similarities with Inoue. Both are hard-hitting, ultra-aggressive punchers, which make them a hot ticket. It’s not a big surprise at all to know that Manny is a fan of the Monster.
Nonetheless, it’s unlikely that Pacquiao will be cheering for Inoue when he eventually takes on Filipino pug Marlon Tapales, the other holder of the belts (IBF, WBA) in the 122-pound division.
(GM)