Boxing analyst says Pacquiao fighting Vargas only for money

MANILA, Philippines – Manny Pacquiao has picked Jessie Vargas as his next opponent only for financial reasons, according to a renowned boxing analyst.

Max Kellerman, who analyzes boxing matches for HBO – the same broadcast company that airs some of Pacquiao’s big fights – believes Pacquiao is playing it safe in choosing Vargas over rising star Terence Crawford.

Crawford, the unbeaten WBC and WBO super lightweight titlist, is perceived to pose more danger for Pacquiao. In fact, even the Filipino icon’s longtime trainer Freddie Roach is wary of matching up his ward against Crawford.

“Terence Crawford is one of the best fighters in boxing and he's sitting right there waiting for a fight with Pacquiao. He's a very dangerous fight. That's a 50-50 type of fight. I think most boxing insiders might even favor Crawford in that one. And that's a bigger money fight than against Jessie Vargas,” the analyst said on ESPN’s First Take.

Selecting Vargas over Crawford has led Kellerman to conclude that Pacquiao is in only for the money, a fact reinforced by Pacquiao’s recent statement that “boxing is my main source of income”.

“Vargas is a harder sell than Crawford. So if you're coming back, and you'd rather fight the guy that's harder to sell for the money for a pay-per-view fight than a guy that is easier to fight – what does that mean? It means you're just doing it for money and you're avoiding the bigger risk at this point,” he added.

Vargas, for his part, has promised that his November 5 fight with Pacquiao will be entertaining.

While Kellerman acknowledges Vargas as a good fighter, beating him won’t mean much for Pacquiao compared to defeating someone like Crawford.

“He (Vargas)'s a good, solid fighter. He's not bad, and he's the kind of guy where if he beats Pacquiao, that means Pacquiao is washed as a top-level fighter. So the fact that Pacquiao chooses to fight Vargas instead of Crawford, it can only say one thing at this point -- which is he's just fighting for the money,” he continued.

“He's fighting for a kind of money-grub while avoiding the bigger money against the more dangerous opponent. It doesn't say good things about where he is at the moment,” Kellerman also said.

Kellerman gained notoriety among Filipino fans for his interview with Pacquiao right after the boxer lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May 2015, wherein he rebutted Pacquiao for believing he won the fight.