Boxing

Manny Pacquiao Tells Terence Crawford What To Focus On For Canelo Alvarez Fight

Boxing icon Manny Pacquiao advised Terence Crawford about what to focus on when fighting Canelo Alvarez.
Grant Young|
Former Filipino boxing star Manny Pacquiao speaks during a news conference on October 11, 2022.
Former Filipino boxing star Manny Pacquiao speaks during a news conference on October 11, 2022. | IMAGO / Newscom / Yonhap News

At one point a few years ago, it seemed like the legendary Manny Pacquiao could eventually be facing champion boxer Terence Crawford, as the two were in and around the weight divisions. However, these two ultimately never met in the ring, which may have been a good thing considering that Pacquiao looked like a shell of his former self during his final few professional fights.

Since then, Crawford has gone on to defeat the other top boxers around his weight, stacking up title belts and increasing his undefeated record to the point where he has skyrocketed up pound-for-pound rankings.

Now, Crawford is slated to fight Canelo Alvarez in mid-September, in what's going to be the biggest payday of his life by far. And Pacquiao is also returning to the boxing ring this summer, facing reigning WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios on July 19 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

There's no doubt that the 46-year-old Pacquiao's focus is completely on his upcoming bout against an adversary 16 years younger than him. However, that didn't keep Pacquiao from speaking about the Canelo vs Crawford contest during a May 23 interview with FightHub TV.

At one point in the discussion, Pacquiao was asked what advice he would give Crawford for fighting Canelo, given that Canelo is a bigger guy.

"My advice is that he would make sure to focus on speed," Pacquiao responded. "That's the problem when you're moving up [in weight], that your speed and power [go]. So he needs to focus [on that]."

This is an interesting juxtaposition from what Pacquiao likely needs to focus on in his own fight, as the general sentiment from the boxing community is that the "Pac-Man" will need to depend on his own power if he has any change of beating Barrios, given that Barrios will almost surely be the faster and more athletic guy in there.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.