Terence Crawford Will Send Manny Pacquiao To Retirement, Predicts Veteran Trainer

A world-renowned boxing trainer shared his views on the rumored Manny Pacquiao vs. Terence Crawford fight.

Though many are convinced that Pacquiao, 42, is still a threat to any current welterweight champion, Teddy Atlas doesn’t think “Pac-Man” will survive Crawford.

According to Atlas, “Bud” is definitely “the wrong” fight for Pacquiao style-wise as Crawford’s ability to utilize the “distance” and work from the inside.

For Atlas, this might give the world’s only eight-division titlist some trouble.

“I’d rather see Crawford with [Errol] Spence. I’d rather see a young guy with a young guy,” he said on his show entitled “The Fight with Teddy Atlas.” “And I think it’s a bad fight for Pacquiao, and I think it’s the last fight for Pacquiao. I hate to see him go out that way. I think Crawford is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.”

“He’s got great trainers, he knows how to control the distance and shorten up his game and go in there and throw short punches on the inside to hold the trenches if he has to,” he continued. “He reminds me of Sugar Ray Leonard, but he was a mean guy when it came down to the fight. Crawford has that streak in him. I think at this point in Pacquiao’s career at 42, but I think it’s the wrong fight for him. I just think Crawford is the wrong style, the wrong talent at this point in his life for Pacquiao.”

What’s even more interesting is that Atlas is convinced that Crawford has the precision to offset the legendary boxer's signature speed and aggression, citing the devastating knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012 as an example.

“I think he [Crawford] can take advantage of timing Pacquiao,” the veteran trainer examined. “Pacquiao was so fast, he’s still fast. He was so quick, not only with his hands but with his feet to close the gap, where he could do things wrong and make them right. When he looks to run the red lights and start from too far away, Crawford might time him on the way in.”

“There might be a car crash,” he added. “[Pacquiao] might pay for running that red light, whereas in the past, he didn’t pay for it. He paid for it once against Juan Manuel Marquez once, and he got knocked out cold.”

Meanwhile, Atlas' former pupil believes otherwise. Timothy Bradley, who has shared the ring with Pacquiao three times and has sparred with Crawford in the past, suggests that the Filipino southpaw can still pose a “problem” for the American.

“I’ve been 36 rounds with Pacquiao, and I have been over 100 rounds with Terence Crawford,” Bradley recently said on ESPN. “It was early in Terence’s career. I understand he’s gotten a lot better to where he was when I was sparring, but his tendencies are still the same.”

“Manny Pacquiao, he loves, and I’m going to go ahead and spill it right now,” the former WBO welterweight titleholder explained further. “I’m going to let you guys know. Manny Pacquiao loves when guys pull back, and that’s a problem."