Everybody was anticipating Manny Pacquiao next fight announcement last December 12 but unfortunately, the Filipino boxer was not ready to choose just yet.
Top Rank Boxing's Bob Arum told ESPN.com's Dan Rafael that they were ready to name Pacquiao's opponent last Monday but later on this week, Top Rank spokesman Fred Sternburg confirmed that the announcement won't be happening this week.
"I was asked to tell you on Bob's behalf that, unfortunately, Top Rank will not have an announcement on truTV as originally planned as Manny is not ready to make a decision on his opponent yet," said Rafael.
Regardless, it looks like the favorites to fight Pacquiao remainst to be Terrence Crawford or Timothy Bradley. Should Pacquiao fight Bradley, it will be their third and deciding match on who's the better fighter. If not, Bradley might get a shot at Canelo instead says Bob Arum.
"If Bradley wins and is not fighting Pacquiao, I'd like to make him with Canelo. That's a good fight," Arum told ESPN.com via IBTimes. "If Canelo beats Cotto, I've talked to (Alvarez promoter) Oscar (De La Hoya) about the winner of Bradley-Rios fighting Canelo, and he loves it."
Terrence Crawford, meanwhile, is so confident that he can defeat Pacquiao, but Mayweather has a thing or two to say to the undefeated American.
"If Terence Crawford happens to fight Manny Pacquiao, I want to let him know that it's not going to be easy. Even though I know I made it look easy, it's not going to be easy," Mayweather told FightHype.com
"[Pacquiao] can fight. He's a lot better than what I thought he was. From me being in the ring with Manny Pacquiao, I take my hat off to him and I can see why he went so far in his career. Terence Crawford gotta realize that Pacquiao is bigger and stronger than Yuriorkis Gamboa, and he hits harder," added Mayweather.
