LAS VEGAS ? The other day, a regular at the South Point Hotel and Casino sports book asked the resident actuarial, Jimmy Vaccaro, when he planned to post odds on Saturday’s junior welterweight title fight at the MGM.
Vaccaro knows his business. He has been making book for close to half a century. If you try to figure out the first fight he ever booked, the temptation is to say Cain vs Abel. Whatever happens tonight, it is an out-bet to say the ending in this one will not be as definitive as the ending in that one.
“As recently as last Wednesday,” Vaccaro said, ”that was the only inquiry I had gotten on the Crawford-Postol fight odds. Today we had it at 7-1 and we still hadn’t taken in any money.” ADVERTISING inRead invented by Teads
On paper (although, nobody ever fights on paper) this one between Terence Crawford (WBO champ) and Viktor Postel (WBC champ) could be surprisingly dramatic. That opinion, however, appears to be shared by almost nobody between here and downtown Kiev, Ukraine, where Postol reigns as native son in waiting.
It was a fight that HBO (with a budget crunch), rejected, forcing Bob Arum, the promoter, to make it a pay-per-view fight. Since Arum is in the process of building Crawford’s rise to stardom and nobody outside of the regulars down at the Ukrainian Social Club has any idea who Postol is, this evening of championship boxing is expected to lay an ostrich egg egg in terms of buys-per-home.
In terms of gambling revenue ? not a small thing in Gomorrah-by-the-Desert, Vacarro called it like he saw it. South Point, where he is the master line-setter, is off the Strip. Its clientele, therefore, is primarily local. With the anonymity of the fight build-up and selective viewership limited on television, if there is to be any kind of a betting handle, it will come from tourists visiting those casinos on the Strip in general and the MGM in particular, where the fight will be held..
The biggest irony here is that in an era when so many of the recent big-money HBO-backed fights look as though the matchmaker could have been Mahatma Gandhi, there are elements here that could make a dandy fight. So it’s a shame that in terms of genuine national fan buzz, it could be held in a broom closet.
Freddie Roach believes Postol can win
Viktor Postol, a former sparring partner for Manny Pacquiao, takes on Terence Crawford in a junior welterweight unification bout on July 23, 2016, in Las Vegas. He’s a heavy underdog, but trainer Freddie Roach thinks Postol can win.
Crawford could be within an inch or two of establishing himself as boxing’s next superstar. He has yet to be in serious trouble in the ring and he’s been there an unbeaten 28 times. He handles interviews with the same natural ease with which he handles opponents. He is so good that his very presence turns this fight into a risk vs. reward venture for both fighters.
Crawford is on the cusp of doing great things, but the truth is beating Postol will not enhance his stature. Losing to him would be a disaster, however.
Conversely. Postol is in a place where nobody expected him to be. What projected him here was a spectacular knockout of heavily favored Lucas Mattthysse that earned him the WBC junior welterweight title.
When it comes to risk and reward, he risks a lot less than Crawford and the possibility of the reward gives him so much to gain. A victory, considering the odds and the lack of great opposition before his winning his title, would bring him instant star status.
It may not be obvious to the public what the table stakes are but each fighter knows. Here in this town built by risk-takers and challenged by desperate dreamers in casinos every night, the pot of gold just moved from the other side of the rainbow (The Philippines) to Sin City.
The Hon. Senator Manny Pacquiao, 37 years old and just three years this side of eligibility to run a planned for his nation’s presidency, will use his senate’s legislative break to return to the city that made him an international superstar.
He ain’t coming to legislate.
He’s coming here to book a Nov. 5 to fight.
And Crawford and Postol know they are high up the top of Arum’s short list to provide the opposition. Greater motivation hath no fighter than the knowledge that the greatest pay day of his life could be just 12 rounds or less away.
So what could this fight bring to the table. There is no mystery about that assuming each fighter is at his best:
Crawford: A master boxer whose every move is designed to lead to the magic moment of a barrage of punches that generally ends it. He is a thinking fighter, a versatile fighter and an intelligent fighter who fights as though in the back of his mind he is thinking two punches ahead of the action.
Postol: Also a terrific boxer with speed and power in his right hand, the uppercut being his best weapon. But he needs a collaborator to make that happen. In short, he needs Crawford to make serious mistake.
Crawford switches easily from righty to southpaw. A natural righty, he still appears to be much better from the left side.
Gun shot was Crawford’s wakeup call
Crawford will fight Viktor Postol in a junior welterweight title bout on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.
The danger: If Postol, who has worked with right- and left-handed handed sparring partners for this fight, catches him in mid-switch, it could be devastating.
Caution: Before you begin to believe that 7 -1 or 8-1 odds or even 6-1 odds are irresistible, don’t forget there is a reason the casinos are still standing in this town.
Mrs. Vaccaro didn’t raise no fool.
