SONAHR: LAS VEGAS, Nevada – July 25, 2016 – There are two kinds of one-sided fights that go the distance. One kind is boring, because one of the participants is so superior that all the opponent can do is take his beating and console himself with the fact that he did not get knocked out. Most of Floyd Mayweather Jr.?s bouts at the end of his career were like that, as Mayweather?s opponents never had a chance.
The other kind is exciting because even though one fighter is clearly dominating the contest, the opponent never gives up and always has a chance to turn it around even though he?s getting hammered. Saturday?s junior-welterweight title-unification showdown between WBO champion Terence Crawford and WBC kingpin Viktor Postol was a clear example of an exciting one-sided battle.On paper, the fighters seemed evenly-matched. Both were young and undefeated, Crawford sporting a 28-0 ledger with 20 KOs and Postol coming in at 28-0 with 12 stoppages.
Crawford has been a rising star over the past few years, having won a world lightweight title before moving up to 140 pounds. Postol?s KO percentage is deceptively low; he showed plenty of power when he stopped the formidable Lucas Matthysse in 10 rounds last year. Crawford-Postol looked to be a potential fight-of-the-year, a collision of skilled boxer-punchers who spare no effort to demolish their opponents.
As it turned out, a fight-of-the-year, it wasn?t. Crawford won by lop-sided scores of 118-107 twice and 117-108. Postol was down twice in the fifth round, but he persevered. In the 12th, Postol went all-out to pull off a miracle last-round stoppage. Way ahead on points, Crawford could have chosen the safety-first route and fought defensively, knowing the bout was in the bag if he made it to the final bell. Instead, he met Postol toe-to-toe, risking the chance that Postol might land a lucky last-second shot, the way Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. did against Sergio Martinez in their middleweight-title fight years ago ? a contest in which Chavez was way behind, and lost despite his end-of-fight fireworks. But Postol couldn?t score a similar shot, and Crawford came away with a convincing, crowd-pleasing victory.
With two junior-welterweight belts around his waist, Crawford is sitting on top of his division. Who is left to challenge him? There?s IBF champion Eduard Troyanovsky, who is undefeated at 24-0 with 21 KOs. But the Russian is relatively unknown, and would not be a big pay-per-view attraction. Crawford might fight him anyway, though, simply to add another belt to his collection. The rest of the division?s elite is littered with the shopworn ? such as Matthysse, Ruslan Provodnikov, and Adrien Broner ? or the untested,such as Antonio Orozco, Omar Figueroa, and Jack Catterall. In short, there really isn?t much left for Crawford to accomplish at 140 pounds.
Welterweight is another story. With Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao retired, the welterweights are where the action is. A showdown between Crawford and WBA/IBF 147-pound champion Keith Thurman would be a fistic and financial blockbuster.
So would a fight with IBF title-holder Kell Brook. Whoever he fights in the higher division, Crawford is bound to move up. It?s just a matter of when. Thus far, Crawford?s career has been golden. He is well on his way to greatness and, ultimately, a plaque the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He is one of boxing?s bright lights. Let?s enjoy him while he shines.
