Terence Crawford crowned as World Champion, The Saturday Night Review

By ciaran123 - 03/01/2014 - Comments

By Ciaran McKInney: There was a busy evening of boxing in the SECC Arena in Glasgow this evening. Their was a world title fight in the main event and the undercard featured the up and coming Anthony Joshua and the continued comeback of the former World title challenger John Murray. But before we get to the review of the card entitled ‘Iron Man’, we shall make a quick stop to review the action that took place in Bristol earlier in the night.

James DeGale headed up a bill against the little known, yet unbeaten Gevorg Khatchikian in what was originally scheduled to be no more than a stay busy/tune up fight ahead of a final eliminator in the early Summer, however, the fight took on a greater deal of significance due to the shocking events of the previous night when his future mandated opponent for the WBC title, Badou Jack, was decimated inside the first round against Derrick Edwards. So with this fight possibly taking up the billing as the final stepping stone to a shot at Sakio Bika, the Olympian knew that complacency was not an option. The fight itself was fairly competitive throughout, with the underdog Georgian giving a brave account of himself whilst also being able to catch his opponent with a few eye-catching blows. DeGale, when all told, controlled the pace of the bout apart from an unconvincing 7th round and stopped Khatchikian with two body shot knockdowns in the penultimate round, leaving the referee to call off the bout. An interesting turn in the journey of James DeGale, he will hope for a better showing if and when he does get his shot at the title.

Now to the bill in Glasgow, and on the undercard, there were wins for Scotty Cardle (with a 8th round stoppage win over a game Paul Appleby). A points win for the improving Golden Boy recruit Anthony Ogogo. Whilst he won every round, at such a low level of competition, his lack of power is becoming a slight worry, with him already being 25. There was a powerful victory for the Manchester native John Murray with a two round demolition of Glasgow native John Simpson, the former World Title Challenger who recently returned from a two year hiatus for various reasons, is now eying up a domestic clash against the in form Anthony Crolla, which would be a fascinating clash of styles.

In the co-feature of the evening, the much hyped and much fancied Anthony Joshua took another step in his heavily publicized career journey with a convincing first round knockout of Hector Alfredo Avila, there is nothing really new to report with this win, but it must be noted that little over a year ago, it took Dereck Chisora 11 rounds to do what Anthony Joshua did in little over a minute, an impressive victory, a step up in class needed once more, perhaps a Matt Skelton or perhaps a resume name highlight in Audley Harrison.

In the main event Ricky Burns put his title on the line against the huge favorite Terence Crawford. This fight came only a few months after the hometown hero had his jaw broken at the hands of Raymundo Beltran and was scandalously awarded a draw. However, it was not to be the case this evening as the visitor dominated from start to finish. Without doubt, Ricky Burns is an exceedingly likeable and brave fighter, but was found out in the same vain as Beltran fight, there were few eye-catching or jump out of the seat moments. The main highlight was the clinical nature of the performance from Crawford, where there may have been a lack of power, there was accuracy and skill to more than compensate. The performance left the fantastic crowd quiet for large spells and it seems that Burns is well and truly on the decline now, its hard to see a comeback after such a demoralizing defeat. Although few would begrudge him after such a tough run of 10 World Title fights. There was ecstasy from Crawford and the traveling entourage when the scorecards read a unanimous decision of Crawford, even a back flip from the new champion found its way into the celebrations.

All in all, an entertaining evening of boxing, it certainly failed to live up to the sheer action and drama of last Saturdays Fight Night in Hull, but the main headline is surely that while one star may be fading, another was born and shines brightly. Whether his style lights up the imaginations of the masses and brings in box office number remains to be seen. But one thing is certain, Terence Crawford is the new WBO Lightweight Champion.

Results

Anthony Ogogo W pts v Greg O’Neil
Scott Cardle W TKO 8 v Paul Appleby
John Murray W TKO 2 v John Simpson
Anthony Joshua W KO 1 v Hector Avila
Ricky Burns v Terence Crawford W pts



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