Crawford is a fighter to watch and yes he's one of my faves, but I do not think he is ready for Pac. I would be delighted if I was wrong on this but logic tells me he's too green at this division.
If this is true Bob Arum should be ashamed of himself, Manny is a little too important and special a fighter to just throw to the wolves as a quick cash out to build another star with, if it happens Manny KO's Crawford and makes Arum look like an ass, Beltran and ****ing Dulorme aren't close to Pacquaio's level.
To me Crawford is one of the best of the next generation but still needs some more fights under his belt. Bump me any time with this I predict he will be in the PFP top 10 in 2 years,,,at most 3. But feeding him to Pac is a bad move.
You can call him a scumbag all you want, that's what all promoters do. They fully build up one fighter and when he's fully established, old and close to retirement, he's fed to the new rising star. If the new rising star passes this test, he confirms he's worthy of this position, if not then the old fighter proves he has more fights left and the process eventually resets. While the business side of the sport is merciless, the fighters make a lot of money in the process, gain serious fame/exposure and build a reputation/legacy. What Arum did for Pacquiao was spectacular because Pacquiao was able to win fights he was never expected to win. The end is rarely pretty for fighters, just take a look at all the legends in the sport. Tyson, Holyfield, RJJ, Leonard, SRR, Ali, Frazier, Norton, Holmes...etc. How many left the sport with a happy note?, very few.
Amazing how many people seem to underestimate Pac due to a single loss to somebody everybody loses to.