Terence Crawford responds to some recent rumors and reports that boxing legend Manny Pacquiao has been ducking him – and paid some words of praise for his fellow promotional stablemate.

Both fighters box under the same banner at Top Rank and earlier this year talks suggested that Pacquiao has been positioned for a fight against Crawford at some point later in 2018.

However this has not materialized as of yet at least, with Crawford beating Jeff Horn recently for the WBO welterweight title and Pacquiao boxing Lucas Matthysse next month for the WBA welterweight crown.

Speaking on SiriusXM Boxing Radio, Crawford dismissed the notion Pacquiao was ducking him and instead had words of praise for the ‘Pacman’:

“Pacquiao earned the right to go out how he wants to go out. He had fought everybody there is to fight – when they was there to fight. He fought all the top names. 8 division champion. He accomplished everything there is to do in the sport of boxing. So if he choose to go out with some fights of his choice, he deserved that. He earned that right.”

Pacquiao fights next month on July 15th in Malaysia against Argentinian big hitter Matthysse in Malaysia.

(Image source and credit: Fox Sports Asia)