Terence Crawford retired with one name still on the list, and his trainer says they were told repeatedly it was coming.
Crawford walked away undefeated after beating Canelo Alvarez in September, the only male fighter to go undisputed in three weight divisions in the four-belt era. The fight he never got was Manny Pacquiao, and it was on the table as far back as his lightweight and super-lightweight days.
Brian “BoMac” McIntyre laid out the history on The Last Stand Podcast with Brian Custer.
We were promised that [Pacquiao] fight a couple of times. We were promised that fight right after he beat Gamboa, they kept telling us “y’all are going to get the Pacquiao fight.” So, we fought a couple more times at 140lbs and then the fight never materialised.
Crawford stopped Yuriorkis Gamboa in nine rounds in 2014 to keep the WBO lightweight title, the win that made him a star in the sport. McIntyre says what followed was a lot of noise and no negotiation.
There was a couple of times where Bob [Arum] and Todd acted like they were in negotiations, but there was other guys that were over there that were telling me they weren’t even really negotiating.
I talked to Bob a couple of times and he was telling me different stuff that was supposed to have been going on that never materialised. So, I don’t know what happened, I don’t know why the fight never took place and why they never gave us that.
He summed it up in five words.
We were promised false dreams, I should say.
Crawford has said Pacquiao is the one opponent he wishes he had gotten, and that he believes he would have knocked him out. Pacquiao has said he wanted it too, and has accused Arum, who promoted both men, of shielding Crawford from the fight.
