WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford personally prefers to fight Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao over Shawn Porter.
“We just have to wait and see. Both of them are great fights. But yeah, I prefer that Manny Pacquiao fight over Shawn Porter,” Crawford recently told FightHype.com at the ringside during the match between Richard Commey and Jackson Marinez. “But Shawn Porter is a great fighter of his own right. And I’ll be ready for whichever comes into fruition.”
Crawford is just one of the boxers projected to face the eight-division world champion on his much-awaited comeback. Several reports also disclosed that Pacquiao, 42, is leaning more toward the Crawford bout.
Either way, Crawford is more than willing to accept any of the possible matches.
“All I can do is to prepare for myself to the best of my abilities and be ready for whatever’s put in front of me,” added the undefeated American boxer. “Both of them have their own strong points. Manny Pacquiao is fast, moving, he can punch. Shawn Porter is aggressive, tough, durable.”
That said, it looks like Crawford is just a step closer to reaching that Pacquiao fight over other top-caliber contenders in Errol Spence Jr. (27-0, 21 KOs), the unified IBF and WBC welterweight titleholder, and interim WBC lightweight champion Ryan Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs). Porter, meanwhile, holds a 31-3-1 record with 17 knockouts.
Crawford last saw action in November last year, taking down former champion Kell Brook with a fourth-round knockout win en route to his fourth title defense.
The 33-year-old Crawford secured five knockout victories in the welterweight division to improve at 37-0 with 28 KOs.
Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs), for his part, has not fought since scoring a split decision win over Keith Thurman in July 2019. He got stripped of his super WBA welterweight belt and was declared “champion in recess” due to inactivity.