The prospect of a big money fight with Pacquiao must be appealing, but Crawford is keeping his eye on the ball?
Tonight at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska, in a fight televised live on HBO (9:30 PM ET/PT), WBO World super lightweight champion, Omaha?s own Terence Crawford (26-0, 18 KOs), defends his title against Haitian-born Canadian Dierry Jean (29-1,20 KOs).
Twenty-eight-year-old Crawford is on a roll. He?s immensely talented, has an inspirational backstory, and is one of the fighters tabbed as a possible replacement for the recently retired Floyd Mayweather and the soon to be retired Manny Pacquiao.
But as we have seen with the relatively low pay-per-view numbers for Golovkin-Lemieux (approximately 150,000 buys), it takes more than a wave of the magic wand, even more than eye-popping power, to replace the old guard with the new.
Thirty-three-year-old Jean, who has held the NABF lightweight and super lightweight titles, is a suitable opponent for Crawford. He?s no world-beater, as his 2014 loss to Lamont Peterson indicates. But he?s athletic and he comes to fight.
What appears to recommend Jean as a legitimate opponent for Crawford is that he sparred with Pacquiao in advance of the bout, about which much, perhaps too much has been made.
?He taught me how to fight a southpaw,? said Jean (Crawford is a righty who switches to a southpaw stance). ?I even used the shoulder roll on him. Manny was so quick and strong. He threw his whole body into every punch.?
Crawford?s promoter, Top Rank?s Bob Arum, said that Omaha?s favorite son needs ?to give a masterful performance, because it?s auditioning for people to say that he has a shot with Pacquiao. He?s on the short list of possible opponents.?
Mangled language aside, Pacquiao is tentatively schedule to return to the ring on April 9 in what Arum says will be his final fight.
?This will be his last fight,? Arum told the New York Post. ?If he?s a Senator, there?s no way he can participate in boxing.?
He participated in boxingas a Congressman, more or less, and there?s not much difference between the two.
What Arum failed to mention, and for which he can be forgiven for failing to mention, is that the bloom is off the Pacquiao rose.
His abysmal performance against Mayweather in the biggest pay-per-view fight in history, followed by his lame ?I hurt my shoulder? excuse after the fight (and after Freddie Roach said, countless times, that Manny would knock Floyd out, even though he knew better), has left a bitter aftertaste.
But now that Pacquiao?s torn rotator cuff has ?completely healed? according to orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, all is presumably forgiven and forgotten, except by those disinclined to forgive and forget so easily.
The prospect of a big money fight with Pacquiao must be appealing, but Crawford is keeping his eye on the ball.
?Dierry Jean is a good fighter,? he said. ?I?m not overlooking him. There is a lot at stake for both of us. It?s all about focus and keeping the blinders on. If you don?t respect the talents of the man in the opposite corner then you?re asking for trouble.?
Bob Arum agrees.
?You don?t want to put too much pressure on the kid because he has an obstacle in the way right now,? he said. ?Jean is a pretty good fighter. He?s a tough kid and the kind of guy who could give him trouble.?
Crawford?s star is on the ascendant. The same can?t be said for Dierry Jean.
?I?m going to box Crawford and if I catch him with a good punch, I will finish him. It?s all about being first?first with the jab and first with the counterpunch.?
We shall see.
