Terence Crawford says Manny Pacquiao does not belong in his P4P list of all-time greats, addressing the controversy around his alleged PED use.
Pacquiao will enter the Hall of Fame this year following an impressive boxing career that stands up there with the best of them. He won titles in eight weight classes, resulting in 12 championship belts, making him one of the most profound fighters ever. Manny started his career as a flyweight as he moved through the weight classes all the way up to junior middleweight. He secured devastating knockouts in the process against Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto, to name a few.
However, there was always controversy surrounding Pacquiao, which came to the fore during his rivalry with Floyd Mayweather. The fight never happened for several years, with Mayweather alleging that Pacman did not want to do random blood testing. Pacquiao eventually undertook those stipulations as he faced off against Mayweather in 2015. Mayweather secured a one-sided unanimous decision as Pacquiao was no longer in his prime.
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However, Crawford has had a different take on this matter. He brought up Mayweather’s stipulations, saying that Pacquiao looked ordinary after the blood testing. This fuelled the narrative that Pacquiao may have been on some substances. Although that may be the case, it is important to note that Manny has never failed a PED test. However, Crawford still had his reservations.
“Manny is a generational talented fighter. He’s accomplished what no other fighter is ever going to accomplish again, but I don’t feel like he did it on his own. That’s me personally for the simple fact when Floyd made it a point for him to do the blood test, he didn’t want to do the blood test, but then when he did do the blood test, he haven’t got a knockout since,” Crawford said
Crawford and Mayweather are not the only ones who have made comments about the controversy. Paulie Malignaggi has also previously been vocal about this. He is on record saying that he felt Pacquiao had cheated in his career, which is why he does not respect the fighter.
“Manny Pacquiao is just a spitting face [of not being clean]. You have to be a moron not to see what I’ve seen – or you just don’t want to believe it. Maybe he’s your hero and you don’t want to believe a guy like that would want to do something like that. To each their own, we’re all entitled to our own opinion. You’re entitled to your prerogative. And that’s my prerogative and my opinion of Pacquiao. I just didn’t pull it out of my ass,” Malignaggi stated
Boxing is a sport where one punch can change the outcome of a person’s career, with deaths having resulted from the sport. PEDs are still as controversial as they are today. Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn recently failed VADA tests despite claiming they were innocent. Ryan suffered a year-long boxing ban, which runs out this month, while Benn went through a legal case. Although he is now allowed to box, the exact circumstances surrounding his cleared status are not clear. Boxing fans had plenty to say about Crawford’s comments.
