Sherdog Boxing: The Weekly Wrap

Khan-Crawford Looking Extremely Likely for April 20

While not officially signed, Amir Khan and Terence Crawford are apparently going to be fighting in New York City on April 20, with promoter Bob Arum hoping to announce the fight next week. Supposedly the fight will be on ESPN PPV for $59.95, which seems crazy except it might be a better fight than Broner-Pacquiao, which Showtime is selling for $79.95.

Oscar De la Hoya has been extremely vocal about the idea that PPV is dead, while Bob Arum is convinced it will never go anywhere, though it may have to come down in price a bit. As disappointing as Canelo Alvarez’s post-GGG opponent choices have been, getting to watch him and a bunch of other fighters on DAZN for $10 a month is such a better deal than either of these fights. I have a hard time seeing PPV existing in the face of both cheap streaming sites like DAZN, and the internet’s increasing ability to steal content.

Wild Rumor Has Klitschko Returning to Face Whyte at Wembley

This is a pretty out-there rumor, but it is definitely something that has boxing Twitter abuzz. The claim is, that Wladimir Klitschko will be ending his retirement soon and fighting Dillian Whyte in the UK. Most people thought Whyte would be facing Joshua next and that Wladimir Klitschko was retired for good, so this rumor seemed to come out of nowhere. Still, it is something people on twitter are talking about, so we’ll see.

One piece of evidence that may point to it being true is Dillian Whyte’s recent statement that he’s been hearing rumors Anthony Joshua will fight Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller in Madison Square Garden. That would be a fun fight and would explain why Whyte-Joshua isn’t already signed despite all of the post-fight bluster between the two.

Pavlik Appears on ‘JRE’ to Discuss Hopkins, Powerlifting and Possible Comeback

Former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik was on The Joe Rogan Experience this week to promote his new boxing podcast, and the first thing people noticed is how big he has gotten. Pavlik is now running his own fitness gym, and apparently got into powerlifting for a while which is how he ended up so much heavier than we’re used to seeing him. Pavlik said he is slimming down now though, because he is considering a return to boxing at cruiserweight, where he vowed he was willing to face “anybody but Usyk.”

Pavlik also spoke of how elbow bursitis derailed his chances against Bernard Hopkins, how the infamous BB gun incident was really about a friend trying to get money out of him, not him cruelly shooting a random guy, and what life as a celebrity is like in Youngstown, Ohio. If you can get through Joe Rogan talking about himself for two hours, there’s a good 35 minutes of Kelly Pavlik content on there.

Mayweather Meets Pacquiao at Clippers Game, Pacquiao Wants to Play Him in Basketball

Before their first fight, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao met at an NBA game by chance and would go on to negotiate their historic fight just after. This week, the two again met at an NBA game when both Floyd and Manny attended the LA Clippers-Charlotte Hornets game at the Staples Center. Fans weren’t especially excited about the prospect of Mayweather-Pacquiao 2 when Floyd teased the idea months ago, but if Manny looks good against the poor man’s Mayweather, Adrien Broner, and Floyd’s possibly diminishing skills continue to be an unknown as he beats up non-boxers, the fight could sell.

But before any rematch, Manny Pacquiao wants to face Floyd on the basketball court. Yes, Pacquiao thinks it’s a good idea for him to face Floyd in one-on-one for fans to watch for $9.99 on PPV. Floyd Mayweather once got a shot blocked by one of the girls from Wild’n Out in a celebrity basketball game and stopped playing to complain to the refs about it, while Manny Pacquiao essentially paid a Filipino team to let him play with them.

Nothing will ever top Joe Frazier nearly drowning in the pool of the 1973 Superstars competition, coming in dead last in the 100 yard dash, and somehow losing the weightlifting competition to a pole vaulter, but a game of basketball between the 5-foot-5 Pacquiao and the 5-foot-8 Mayweather may be bad enough to challenge Roy Jones failing to dunk successfully once, in a celebrity dunk contest, or the overall weirdness of a prime George Foreman bowling with Bob Newhart . PPV may be dead, but you can’t tell me this event wouldn’t be worth one-eighth the price of Broner-Pacquiao.

Ryan Garcia Asks out Selena Gomez, Wants Tenshin Nasukawa Next

There was not much blowback from Ryan Garcia’s appearance on Logan Paul’s podcast, with the only real story coming out of that event Garcia’s “knocking out” of a heavily padded and heavily acting Paul with a bodyshot.

But, this week Garcia did make a bit of news when he spoke to a TMZ cameraman and “shot his shot” by asking out Selena Gomez. Garcia also expressed an interest in fighting Tenshin Nasukawa, which would be a total waste of time. This was some pretty savvy marketing from “Kingry”, and although he is six years younger than her, they would make a cute couple. Garcia needs to be careful though, mistreat Selena Gomez in any way and he might catch these hands.