Terence CrawFord vs Viktor Postol Face off
Terence Crawford improved to 29-0 (20 KOs) with a dominant performance over Viktor Postol 28-1 (12 KOs) to unify the WBC and WBO junior welterweight titles and make an emphatic statement about who the best 140-pound fighter in the world.
Crawford started slow, as is the norm for the star from Omaha, Nebraska, feeling out Postol"s length and figuring out how to attack the taller fighter. In the fourth round, he started to open things up, letting his hands go, and then in the fifth round, the fight turned totally in his favor as he knocked Postol down twice to take a commanding lead on the cards.
The dominance shown by Crawford over Postol, who is the consensus pick as the second-best fighter at 140 pounds, was mightily impressive as he completely dismantled the Ukranian star. Postol, normally a high-output puncher, threw only 244 punches in the fight and landed just 83 of those. Crawford landed 141 of 388 punches in the fight, but it was the ease with which he landed his power punches -- 107 of 216 found their target from Crawford -- that separated him. The jab was only a range finder in this fight for Crawford, waiting for Postol to step into his power shots.
Crawford"s best punch of the fight was with his left hand, as he spent the entirety of the fight in the southpaw stance, neutralizing the Postol jab and creating space for his left hand to shoot through.
The dominant performance by Crawford leaves only one question: Who"s next? It"s hard to look at anyone currently in the 140-pound division that could give him problems, but the name on everyone"s mind right now is Manny Pacquiao. The superstar welterweight is in need of an opponent for Nov. 5 in his return bout after a brief retirement.
Both guys are under Bob Arum"s Top Rank umbrella, so the promotional side would be easy to negotiate, but it"s a matter of whether Pacquiao wants to make a return to 140 pounds for the first time since 2009 and whether Top Rank wants to put their best pound-for-pound guys in the ring, with the chance of their best young star losing right when he"s hot on the market.
We"ll find out soon enough as a Pacquiao opponent is expected to be announced in the next two weeks, but whoever Crawford faces next, Pacquiao or not, is in for an extremely tough challenge.
HBO PPV Results Winner Loser Result Terence Crawford Viktor Postol Unanimous decisionOleksandr Gvozdyk
Tommy Karpency 6th-round KO Jose Benavidez Jr. Francisco Santana Unanimous decision Oscar Valdez Matias Rueda 2nd-round TKOCBS Sports will also be providing a live blog of all the action below.
Source: http://www.cbssports.com/boxing/news/crawford-vs-postol-results-live-blog-full-card-odds-how-to-watch-live-stream/
