By Nick Giongco
Oil-rich Bahrain could end up hosting one of boxing’s biggest fights before the end of 2020.
Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum said Top Rank is in “serious talks” with Bahrain in bringing eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao and Terence Crawford towards the end of the year for a unification welterweight title fight.
“We hope we could get Crawdord and Pacquiao in action this year and through our friends at MTK, we are in serious talk with Bahrain in doing major fights there. I love to do some big, big events in Bahrain,” said Arum in an online interview with a British outfit.
So, is this mouth-watering fight just all talk?
Arum, 88, who began promoting in 1966 with Muhammad Ali, feels Bahrain is capable of stepping up to the plate.
“Let’s see what happens…everything is likely, everybody wants to do these events until the time comes for them to put up the money but with the money but with Bahrain, we have a good shot to get it done.”
Pacquiao, 42, fought under Arum’s banner for over ten years before deciding to sign up with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions.
Thought they are bitter rivals, Arum and Haymon have worked together and doing it one more time should pose no problems.
The 32-year-old Crawford (36-0 with 27 KOs), the World Boxing Organization titlist, is with Top Rank and is considered a leading welterweight in the world
alongside World Boxing Association ruler Pacquiao and Errol Spence, holder of the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation titles.
Though boxing is about to make its return in the US, it doesn’t seem likely that major fights will be taking place in the next three months.
Arum believes the high-profile matchups that involve an audience in the US won’t be happening anytime soon.
Meanwhile, Arum is eyeing a September date for the three-belt bantamweight fight involving Naoya Inoue of Japan and John Riel Casimero.
Inoue, the WBA and IBF champion and Casimero, the WBO supremo, were
supposed to face off last April 26 but the coronavirus forced its cancellation.
“We are talking with our colleagues in Japan. We are trying to arrange when we can get Inoue over here. Travel instructions are a bitch to go around,” said Arum.
Casimero is already in Las Vegas training and waiting for Inoue to arrive and Arum is moving heaven and earth to expedite his arrival in America.
“We’d like to him to be here by September then we can do his event with Casimero with a limited audience because is so popular with Japanese and Japanese-Americans and I would like to put in an arena where we an open it for 2500 to 3000 people spread out. There’d be no
problem selling tickets for that,” added Arum.
