This Saturday night, HBO is in action with one of their favorite stars, as Terence Crawford takes to the ring to headline World Championship Boxing against Dierry Jean. HBO World Championship Boxing airs this Saturday October 24 with a fight time of 9:30 p.m. ET. The broadcast will open with replays of last weekend’s Gonzalez vs. Viloria and Golovkin vs. Lemieux PPV fights.
Terence Crawford is a man who any HBO Boxing fan became well familiar with last year. He went 3-0 in 2014, had one of the best fights of the year against Yuriorkis Gamboa, and was named Fighter of the Year on Jim Lampley’s The Fight Game. Clearly, HBO wants to position him as one of the sport’s true elite fighters today. Is that true?
To help sort it out, here is the quick and dirty info you need on Terence Crawford: Stats: 5’8″ tall | 70″ reach | 28 years old | Currently fighting at Junior Welterweight (140 pounds) Record: 26-0 with 18 KOs for a 69% KO ratio. Titles: Until recently, Crawford was the world’s #1 Lightweight, but this will be his second fight moving up to the 140 pound division. In his debut here, he claimed the WBO title, which he defends against Jean. This was a smart move up in weight class – there are precious few marquee opponents at Lightweight, but now, he has the potential to face many of boxing’s biggest names. Ranking: This is an interesting point. Ring Magazine has him at #7 on the pound for pound list, one spot ahead of Manny Pacquiao (Though they also have him at #2 at 140 pounds behind Viktor Postol, who is not ranked on the P4P). ESPN has him just outside their Top 10. Clearly HBO wants you to believe the Ring ranking, though for me personally, I think ESPN’s is more accurate. Quality of opposition: Very strong. For a lot of fighters with these kinds of records, this is the point where it all falls apart, as you dig in and see a string of outmatched opponents. Not so for Crawford. Dulorme, Beltran, Gamboa, Burns, Klimov… all of his opponents in recent fights have been riding serious hot streaks against good opposition coming in to their Crawford fights, and all have lost. I struggle to think of too many active fighters with a run of wins that parallel Crawford’s. Saturday’s opponent: Dierry Jean. 29-1 with 20 KOs. His lone loss comes against the very tough Lamont Peterson. He’s 4-0 since, though not against a great level of opposition. Ring Magazine ranks him at #4 at Lightweight, as he makes the move up here. Does Jean have a chance?: Jean is not a bad fighter at all, but he’s not a real step up from the level of fighter Crawford has been slicing his way through lately. So no, I don’t see much of a chance for him here. Odds: Currently -2500 for Crawford to +1000 for Jean on Bovada. Those are wider odds than either of last week’s big fights. Highlights: Crawford is not a crazy KO kind of fighter, as it is much more about his technique – in particular his excellent movement. That makes him very interesting to watch, but it’s hard to find a ton of OMG! highlights. That said, his war last year with Gamboa really was something special, plus it was in front of an amazingly hot crowd. Highlights are below, but I strongly suggest you watch the entire fight (video up above). Why you should watch: One of the rising new generation of fighters looking to establish himself as a legit top 10 talent. Plus, he does it in front of a raucous hometown crowd.
Tune in to HBO Boxing featuring Terence Crawford vs. Dierry Jean live this Saturday night. Bloody Elbow will have live coverage right here.
