By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – Freddie Roach believes there’s no better time than the present for Manny Pacquiao to fight Terence Crawford.

Pacquiao’s Hall-of-Fame trainer previously has indicated that Crawford’s style wasn’t quite right for the Filipino superstar. Now that Bob Arum, whose Top Rank Inc. promotes Pacquiao and Crawford, wants to make a Pacquiao-Crawford fight, Roach seems confident his fighter is ready to encounter Crawford.

“[Arum] wants the Crawford fight,” Roach said Wednesday before a question-and-answer session with Miguel Cotto and James Kirkland in Manhattan. “I know that. I think Crawford supposedly asked for $7 million, and they said no.  But I know someday, if we’re gonna stay in boxing, we’re gonna have to fight this guy. And I figure we better fight him earlier than later.” [editor's note: Arum denied Roach's claim that Crawford requested that sum].

Pacquiao (59-6-2, 38 KOs), who probably will return to the ring sometime in April, turned 38 last month. Crawford (30-0, 21 KOs), the WBC and WBO super lightweight champion from Omaha, Nebraska, is 29.

According to Roach, their age gap won’t stop Pacquiao from facing the highly skilled Crawford, who has won world titles at 135 pounds and 140 pounds. In fact, if it were entirely up to Pacquiao, Roach says he would’ve faced Crawford already.

“Manny will fight anybody,” Roach said. “Obviously, we thought we could get Mayweather again. That’s the fight he wants most because he’s 100-percent healthy and he feels good. But I’m sure if Crawford came to the table, I mean Manny, I’ll bet he’s never seen Crawford fight. Because Triple-G [Gennady Golovkin] came in the gym and wanted to take a picture with Manny. They took a picture in the ring and as I’m gloving him up in the ring and so forth, he said, ‘Freddie, who’s that guy?’ I said, ‘What guy?’ He said, ‘The guy I took a picture with.’ I said, ‘That’s Triple-G.’ I said, ‘You don’t know him?’ He said, ‘No. Is he a fighter?’

“Because he don’t watch TV and stuff like that. Manny’s not like that. He’s out playing basketball and stuff. He’s never at home, he doesn’t watch TV and he doesn’t know who half the fighters in the world are. But the thing is, he’ll fight anyone you put in front of him and he’ll do his best. That’s the kind of guy he is. And the thing is, if we want to stay in the game and we don’t wanna be just an ex-world champion and so forth, the only reason to stay in the game is to be a champion again and so forth. So, I mean, I want opponents like that. If we can’t get opponents like that, then there’s no sense in doing it.”

Roach respects Crawford’s ability, but doesn’t think he is ready to topple Pacquiao, particularly at 147 pounds, the weight at which Roach wants them to fight. He suspects Arum wants to use an aging Pacquiao’s star power to help build Crawford into a bigger attraction.

“[Arum] wants that fight,” Roach said. “The thing is, I think he’s trying to make Crawford into a bigger star. If he beat Manny, it would help. But I think Manny can beat him. The thing is, I mean, he is a good fighter. I do respect him. He’s a very good boxer. He can move. He can run like hell if he wants to. But can he beat Manny? I don’t think so.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.